JOINT PRESS RELEASE
Vanuatu officially opens two Provincial Emergency Operations Centres in Malampa and Sanma
6th July 2018
Port Villa, Vanuatu- This week, Vanuatu Prime Minister Hon, Charlot Tabimasmas officially opened two Provincial
Emergency Operations Centres (PEOC’s) in Malampa and in Sanma. The PEOC’s were funded by the EU through the Building
Safety and Resilience in the Pacific (BSRP) Project, with a total cost of €700,000. Each centre is built to facilitate
three or more National Disaster Management Officers and it is fully equipped with the necessary technologies and ability
to send and receive real-time disaster information.
In the aftermath of Tropical Cyclone Pam in March 2015, the NDMO found in their Post Disaster Needs Assessment (PDNA)
that the communication and information flow between the national response coordination agencies needed significant
improvement, which resulted in the misdirection of vital relief supplies for affected communities, delaying their
recovery.
In an effort to address this, the Vanuatu government is working to decentralise disaster management capacity, which is
in line with the government’s five-year plan to improve national disaster coordination.
Speaking at the official opening of the Malampa emergency provincial operations centre, Prime Minister Hon. Charlot
Salway Tabimasmas stated, “Our number one priority during a disaster is to ensure that everyone is safe, and the
Provincial Emergency Operations Centres (PEOC’s) will improve communications lines between the national and provincial
officers and assist our decision makers in determining how to best respond to emergencies. Establishing these PEOC’s in
targeted province like Malampa and Sanma will significantly support NDMO Officers in implementing provincial disaster
plans within communities in each province.”
The important role of effective communication before, during, and after a disaster is critical to reducing loss of life
in emergencies. The establishment of the PEOC’s will strengthen resilience in the face of current challenges dues in a
changing climate.
Acting Head of Cooperation at the EU Delegation for the Pacific, Emmanuelle Guiheneuf, stressed the EU’s support for
these centers’s saying, "The European Union is pleased with the result this partnership has achieved and remains
committed to supporting efforts towards strengthening national disaster resilience around the Pacific.”
Also present at the opening was the Pacific Community’s (SPC) representative, BSRP Project Manager Mr Taito Nakalevu who
noted, “The construction of the two PEOC’s feeds into one of our projects key results areas, which is ‘Effective
Preparedness for Response and Recover’. With these two buildings, we believe that Vanuatu’s emergency/disaster
preparedness and response capacity will definitely be strengthened”.
Background:
The ACP-EU Building Safety and Resilience in the Pacific (BSRP) is a €19.37million project, funded by the EU and
implemented by the Pacific Community (SPC). The objective of the project is to reduce the vulnerability, as well as the
social, economic and environmental costs of disasters caused by natural hazards, thereby achieving regional and national
sustainable development and poverty alleviation in ACP Pacific Island States.