The changing tide of disaster preparedness - Vanuatu

Above: Sanma Provincial Government planner, Georgina Faerua, with the Provincial Disaster Response Plan. Photo credit: Mike Kaun, World Vision Vanuatu.

Vanuatu is one of the most vulnerable countries in the world to natural disasters. For communities in coastal areas, the risk of disaster, such as tsunamis, is high and the impact of climate change is increasingly felt through events such as coastal erosion, flooding and cyclones. 

Jerome is the Chief of Ukoro village, a small coastal village on Vanuatu’s Santo island, and he knows all too well the impact of natural disasters.

Close to Ukoro village there is a river that runs into the sea and Jerome’s family along with other families have experienced first-hand the devastation that nature can do to their homes and livelihoods. 

“When storms come we have flooding from the river and sea, and with very little protection from the wind those houses built with traditional materials are easily destroyed. Erosion is also a big issue because we have to move our gardens and homes to safer places,” he said.

World Vision, with support from the Australian Government through the Australian Humanitarian Partnership Disaster Ready program has been working with Local Area Councils and Provincial Emergency Operations Centres (PEOC) to strengthen disaster preparedness and improve the capacity of these actors to respond to disasters in villages like Ukoro. 

Through Disaster READY, World Vision is also working with communities to develop community profiles that outline details such as population, primary livelihood activities, assets, infrastructure, social services. The profiles are then submitted to Samna Provincial Government which can now, for the first time, access this information for use in both disaster risk reduction planning activities as and during a disaster response. 

Paul Jamran, an area administrator with the Provincial Government, explained why strong communication and coordination is essential to supporting communities after a disaster.

Above: Erosion takes its on island communities in Vanuatu, with trees falling into the ocean and crops needing to be relocated. Photo credit: Mike Kaun, World Vision Vanuatu.

“I remember once when flash flooding happened where houses were damaged in a village. A response team was flown in to provide food even though the gardens were not destroyed.  A village further downstream had suffered destruction to its gardens but no food was distributed to that village during the response. A second trip then had to be organised, but did not occur for several weeks,” he said

Sanma Provincial Government planner Georgina Faerua confirmed the importance of the work being supported through Disaster READY. 

“Most valuable to us is the fact that the program has chosen to work in areas where the province has the greatest challenges. The  people who have represented those communities have not always understood their roles so there has been confusion around responsibilities especially in times of disaster,” Georgina said.

Paul Jamran explained the difference the training has made.

“A Chief who attended it (the training) said that all his life he knew only his responsibilities within his community but now he has learnt exactly how important his role was in the wider picture and has a clearer understanding of how different bodies worked within the Province especially when it came to comes to disaster risk reduction,” he said.

These leaders have now started to initiate change in their villages. 

Village Chief, Jerome confirmed this when he explained that a building that was to be church will now be established as a shelter.

Above: Ukuro Village Chief and his son stand among some of the trees which were planted as part of the disaster committee activities. Photo credit: Mike Kaun, World Vision Vanuatu.

“When there is a storm and our homes are destroyed, this shelter will be of great use. Our village is far from the main road and we have children, old people and people with disabilities like my son who cannot walk long distances,” he explained.

Jerome also noted that people were starting to replace traditional house designs with more solid, concrete structures. pointed out concrete homes that were starting to be built by people to replace their traditional homes which were easily destroyed when storms hit their village. 

Jerome’s village has also begun planting trees to combat erosion. He credits the support provided to the disaster committee for making these changes happen. 

“In the past, when disaster committees were set up people saw them as just another body in the village but now that the different representatives have been supported with this new information, they now understand that disaster risk reduction is everybody’s business,” he concluded.