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\ew Provincial Emergency Operation
Centres in Solomon Islands
With increasing risk and frequency of natural disasters, efforts are being made towards building resilient
communities to reduce the risk of damage and loss of property and human life.
The European Union is presently supporting the construction of provincial Emergency Operation Centres
at Lata, Kirakira and Gizo Provincial Headquarters in the Solomon Islands through the implementation of
the Disaster Risk Reduction project (B- Envelope), implemented by the SPC. Construction has already been
completed at Lata and Kirakira with the building at Gizo scheduled for completion around October 2013.
The Provincial Emergency Operation Centres will greatly enhance the capacity of the provinces in disaster
management particularly in coordinating relief efforts in the event of a disaster. The Director of the National
Disaster Management Office, Loti Yates, said "The provinces now have a dedicated operations centre that
will strengthen the Provincial Government's capacity to deal more effectively with disaster management. We
are grateful for the support of the European Union for making these funds available through this project. The
Solomon Island Government is contributing through staff housing and equipment of the Emergency Operation
Centres." Mr Yates further stated that other provinces stand to benefit with similar infrastructure support in
the future.
SPC has been working closely with the National Disaster Management Office, Ministry of Environment, Climate
Change, Disaster Management and Meteorology in implementing this project since 2008. During the early
planning stages, the Provincial Governments made available land for their respective Emergency Operation
Island Government to
Centres. SOPAC and now SPC via its SOPAC Division coordinated with the Solomon
identify land to be surveyed, develop architectural
plans, award contracts to supply building materials
and construct buildings. Over the last two years,
SPC, in support of the Ministry of Infrastructure and
Development, has been heavily involved in supervising
the construction and addressing the challenges of
constructing at remote locations.
Mosese Sikivou of SPC, states "Our efforts focus on
ensuring that people are better prepared for disasters.
Climate change is real and is already affecting us. A
lot of communities in the provinces are exposed to
hazards and we can help by making them aware of the
risks and the actions to take to minimize those hazards
turning into disasters for local communities ".
Newly completed EOC at Kirakira.