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Pacific Catastrophe Risk Assessment Meeting, November 18 - 19, Suva, Fiji

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SOPAC will host the second project meeting on a joint initiative by the World Bank, the Asian Development Bank and SOPAC on Pacific Catastrophe Risk Assessment and Financing.

The purpose of the meeting is to review progress in collecting building, infrastructure, population and crop data to determine the level of risk faced by Pacific island countries.

Scientists at the meeting will review the research and modeling into the impact of disasters, including tropical cyclones, earthquakes, and tsunami in the Pacific Islands.

Participants will also discuss ways in which this information can be made accessible to decision and policy makers to help reduce the risk of disasters in the Pacific Island countries.

The importance of sustaining the initiative beyond the lifetime of the project will also be addressed.

The meeting will be attended by the Asian Development Bank, the World Bank, GNS Science (New Zealand), AIR Worldwide (US), Pacific Disaster Centre (US) and SOPAC, all project partners.

 

Last Updated on Saturday, 13 November 2010 10:01  

Newsflash

Did you know that 8% of global energy generation is used for pumping, treating and transporting water to various consumers?  Did you also know that most of the electricity generated in the Pacific Islands Countries and Territories is from water?

The links between these two scarce and important resources – water and energy – is the theme of this year’s World Water Day, celebrated globally on 22nd March.

Each year, World Water Day is acknowledged throughout the Pacific with the support of awareness materials prepared and distributed by the GSD Division of SPC.  This year’s theme draws attention to the vital role of water and energy sources to the sustainable development of Pacific Island Countries and Territories.

While energy is needed to pump, treat and distribute water to Pacific households, water is also an important energy source in several Pacific Island Countries, where the energy of rivers and streams is harnessed by hydro-electric facilities at the municipal, village and even household scale.

Solomone Fifita, head of the SPC Economic Development Division’s Energy Programme, noted the close linkages that exist between the conservation of water and energy resources.  “The choices we make every day on our water and energy use are closely related, and decisions on the supply, distribution, price and use of water and energy impact one another,” he said.