A workshop held recently in Port Vila aims to increase understanding on the Early Action Rainfall Watch (EARWatch) bulletin routinely issued by the Vanuatu Meteorology and Geo-Hazards Department (VMGD) for disaster preparedness.
Health centre workers, school principals, community disaster and climate change committees and Vanuatu Red Cross Society branch officers from Shefa and Tafea Provinces participated in the training.
Currently, many locations in Vanuatu like offshore Efate islands, Aniwa are experiencing prolonged dry conditions with impacts such as limited water.
Drought is often-although not always-associated with El Niño in Vanuatu.
An El Niño event in 2015/2016 led to water shortages and crop failure causing health issues and school closure.
Planting drought-resistant crops, hygiene and health promotion, food and water management are some useful actions that can be taken by communities ahead of the disasters.
The purpose of the EARWatch is to provide national and provincial disaster officers with information on the likelihood of very dry or very wet conditions to help communities to better plan, prepare and respond, said the Climate Services Manager, Allan Rarai.
The participants have been taught to link drought conditions to impacts on the ground and to identify actions that could be taken to prepare for drought.
SANMA Provincial Disaster Officer, Kensley Micah, said: “EARWatch can go a long way in educating people at the provincial level and help with the National Disaster Management Office (NDMO) Response Plans.
“The product can complement existing plans in linking drought with actions.”
Traditional knowledge is also vital in drought preparedness, for people in communities to relate to the EARWatch and take action, said the Chairlady of the Pele Island Community Disaster and Climate Change Committee, Clarence Tamara.
“At the end of the day we want people to prepare,” she said.
The EARWatch bulletin was developed by VMGD last year to provide information to stakeholders about possible upcoming dry conditions in an easy-to-understand format.
However, a challenge has been the transmission of this information to the community level.
The workshop was supported by experts from the Australian Bureau of Meteorology, Red Cross Red Crescent Climate Centre and Secretariat of the Pacific Regional Environment Programme, with financial support from Agence Française de Développement (AFD) Group via the French Red Cross and the Climate and Oceans Support Programme in the Pacific funded by the Government of Australia through the Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade.
Photo supplied Caption: Participants discuss a point at the Sub-National Early Action Rainfall Workshop.