SPC Geoscience Division

Pacific Island nations can now access information that could change their response to the threat of natural hazards, and indicate options for managing the financial burden of disasters.

The Pacific Catastrophe Risk Assessment and Financing Initiative, a two-year project, has resulted in “the most comprehensive set of data ever collected within the Pacific Islands.”

“I would like to see the available data to be implemented in Pacific Island Governments for everyday processes, whether it be for asset management, building standards and controls, planning, or monitoring the impact of disasters,” said consulting scientist Phil Glassey, Head of Regional Geology Department, GNS Science New Zealand.

In common with many Pacific island countries, the Cook Islands face the effects of climate change and natural hazards and disasters such as tsunamis, droughts, fires and cyclones, all of which have the potential to cause set backs to economic, social and cultural development.

Two hundred delegates and experts, from 22 Pacific island countries and territories and around the world, met at the 3rd Session of the Pacific Platform for Disaster Risk Management to examine ways to mitigate the impact of disasters, including the impacts of climate change, on Pacific regional development.