Villagers of Taveuni have acknowledged the efforts by the National Disaster Management office to bring the national awareness week to the garden island.
Dreketi village head, Iliesa Tuiloma said they took the advice seriously and agreed to participate in the tsunami drill because of the significance of it to their livelihood.
“The last time I heard from our elders back then that a tsunami hit Somosomo in 1953 and that was a long time away.”
“In those days there was’nt anything like disaster preparedness or disaster village committees and today it is very different.
Mr Tuiloma said the disaster awareness program has triggered them to also form their own village disaster committee to look into the business of disaster preparedness.
“I remember in TC Winston, there was a lot of damage done, lives were lost and properties were damaged. We want to change that today, as you can see the response from the villages today has been very encouraging.”
SPC disaster management advisor Noa Tokavou who headed the emergency operation center during the two days of simulation drills in Taveuni said it was critical that villages formed their own disaster committees and also draw up their evacuation plans for such emergency situations.
The second tsunami simulation drill today involved the tikina of Somosomo which consists of 4 villagers Dreketi, Nasarata, Somosomo and Lamini.
The simulation exercise also included school children from Somosomo Primary school. A total of 397 villagers including women and children were part of the simulation.
The simulation exercise today also culminated with the weeklong disaster awareness week which included oratory contest by the students of Taveuni schools.