The National Disaster Management Office (NDMO) and the Japan International Cooperation Agency (JICA) held the official signing ceremony for the "Strengthening Community-Based Disaster Risk Management Project in the Pacific Region".
The signing took place at the NDMO in Toorak, Suva.
The Record of Discussion for the Project was signed by the Permanent Secretary for NDMO, Mr Manasa Vaniqi and JICA resident Representative for Fiji Office, Mr Juichiro Sasaki.
It is a regional project that will also be implemented in Solomon Islands. As for Fiji, the Project pilot area is Ba River Basin, Northwest of Viti Levu Island.
The project duration will be three years from November 2010 - November 2013, with a budget of US$3.4million for the two countries. Over the course of the project period, several experts from Japan will be dispatched to strengthen national disaster management capacities to improve the overall disaster preparedness and evacuation system.
The Project aims to achieve the following:
1) Establish a flood warning system which is appropriately managed by the District Officer- Ba, through the NDMO in cooperation with the Meteorological Office and Water Authority and the target community residents to understand and response accordingly.
2) To develop the NDMO's disaster management capacity.
3) To enhance the target community's awareness on disaster preparedness.
The NDMO is to take the leading role collaborating with other organization such as Ministry of Provincial Development, Multi-Ethnic Affairs, National Disaster Management & Sugar, Fiji Meteorological Service, Ministry of Works, Transport and Public Utilities, Water Authority and Community of Ba. Fiji and Solomon Islands will collaborate to actively share information and progress of the project and disseminate best practices to other Pacific Island Countries through international and regional workshops.