As part of the preparedness towards any forthcoming disasters and continuous monitoring of the agricultural sector, the RRU in collaboration with FAO and DARD have established an early warning early action system that is run by the Risk and Resilience Unit (RRU) of the Ministry of Agriculture, Livestock, Forestry, Fisheries and Biosecurity (MALFFB) to the agricultural extension officers. The department of agriculture has a total of 45 extension officers that are based on all of the 6 provinces covering almost all the area councils of every island.

A national debriefing workshop to identify lessons learned following Tropical Cyclone Pam (TC Pam) was facilitatedby the Vanuatu National Disaster Management Office (NDMO) with support from the Pacific Community (SPC) and

This report uses these generic methods to provide recommendations for climate resilient development in the PICs in the following sectors: coastal protection, flood management, water resources management, protection of infrastructure against changes in temperature and precipitations, protection of buildings against cyclone winds, and adaptation in the agriculture sector.

The FRDP identifies three inter-related goals that need to be actively pursued by all stakeholders, working in partnership, in order to enhance resilience to disasters and climate change in the context of sustainable development and efforts to eradicate poverty.

The Forty-Seventh Pacific Islands Forum was held in Pohnpei, Federated States of Micronesia from 8 – 10 September 2016 and was attended by Heads of State and Government of Australia, the Cook Islands, Federated States of Micronesia, the Republic of Nauru, New Zealand, Papua New Guinea, Republic of the Marshall Islands, Samoa, Tonga, Tuvalu and Vanuatu. The Solomon Islands was represented by their Deputy Prime Minister, the Republic of Fiji, Niue and the Republic of Palau by their Ministers of Foreign Affairs and Kiribati by a Special Envoy.

The annual cyclone season for the Republic of Vanuatu commences in November and extends to the end of April the following year. While cyclones can develop outside of this period, their cyclical nature increases the predictability of such occurrences and thus enables pre-planned measures to be formulated beforehand and community preparedness programmes to be put in place and promulgated.

Hanbuk ia Nasonal Disasta Manejmen Ofis (NDMO) blong Vanuatu i mekem blong ol ofisa
blong gavman mo olgeta we oli wantem karemaot ol wok blong Komuniti Bes Disasta Risk
Ridaksen (CBDRR). Hanbuk ia hem i talem wanem nao mo hao nao yumi sud mekem ol
CBDRR aktiviti long ol komuniti long Vanuatu.
Stamba tingting blong hanbuk ia hem i blong givhan long ol ejensi blong sapotem NDMO
blong setemap ol KOMUNITI DISASTA MO KLAEMET JENS KOMITI (CDCCC) long ol komuniti
we disasta i stap afektem olgeta plante, mo trenem ol komuniti ia blong oli kam moa rere
blong fesem disasta.

Following TC Pam NDMO recognised the need for enhanced community based disaster risk management responses. As such over the last year NDMO has been working with its key in country partners to review, revise and update certain processes and tools. One of those DRM processes and tools is the community based disaster assessment process.

This Provincial Disaster & Climate Response Plan (PDCRP) provides directive to all agencies on the conduct of Disaster Preparedness and Emergency operations. This plan has been formulated in compliance with section 9 Part 3 of National Disaster Act N0.31 of 2000 Section 11 subsection 5, and aligned with the National Climate Change & Disaster Risk Reduction Policy 2015- 2030, Section 7.1.4.

It is a plan that details the prevention, preparedness, response and recovery arrangements in the event of a cyclone impacting on the Republic of Vanuatu. This plan clearly states out the guidelines and information to all responding agencies on what needs to be done in coordinated planning during a cyclone in line with the National Disaster Management Act NO 31 of 2000 and the Disaster Risk Management National Action Plan 2006-2016. 

This handbook gives the guidelines for organizing, developing, and evaluating simulations and drills and describes different uses for the exercises in the context of emergencies and disasters. It has been written primarily for heatlh sector organizations that are in the process of reviewing and updating emergency preparedness and response plans, but institutions from other sectors will also find it useful.

Released by the National Disaster Management Office (NDMO), this document provides definitions for commonly used disaster risk reduction (DRR) and disaster management (DM) terms.

Between May 2013 and December 2014, CARE implemented a disaster risk reduction project in Vanuatu’s TAFEA province. The Yumi Redi 2 project aimed to increase the capacity of vulnerable communities to prepare for and respond to disasters. This case study of the village of Dillons Bay (on Errromango island) illustrates the impact of this project on the community’s practices before, during and after Cyclone Pam. Striking Vanuatu on March 13th 2015, this category five cyclone was one of the worst storms ever to hit the region.

The island Republic of Vanuatu is one of the most climatologically and seismically vulnerable countries in the world. Situated in the Pacific’s ‘Ring of Fire’ and ‘cyclone belt’, it is susceptible to volcanic eruptions, earthquakes, tsunamis, cyclones and both flood and drought. With the onset of climate change, extreme weather events are increasing the number and severity of natural disasters.

As the #1 ranked country for vulnerability on the World Risk Index, the lives of men and women in Vanuatu are constantly threatened by climate change and disasters. Following the most devastating cyclone to ever hit Vanuatu – cyclone Pam in 2015 – and widespread drought as a result of a strong El Nino event throughout 2015 and most of 2016, the impacts are growing ever more severe with climate change predicted to increase the intensity and impacts of such events over time.

The World Humanitarian Summit in 2016 provides a unique opportunity for governments, UN agencies and civil society actors to set an ambitious agenda for empowering women and girls as change agents and leaders in humanitarian action and ensuring gender responsive humanitarian programming. However for these commitments to translate into meaningful action, it is critical to respond to the barriers that currently impact women’s leadership in emergencies, and build upon the existing efforts of women first responders and women-led organisations.

The Government of Vanuatu has decided to develop an oceans policy, which aligns with recommendations from the
Commonwealth Secretariat.
This report summarises the main findings1 of an analysis and assessment of 69 instruments of legislation and
subordinate policies and plans that are relevant to management and use of Vanuatu’s territorial waters and therefore
relevant to the development of the national oceans policy. The review of Vanuatu’s legislation, policies, strategies and

The Vanuatu NGO Climate Change Adaptation (CCA) Program (the program), locally known as Yumi stap redi long Klaemet Jenis, began in July 2012 and was completed in December 2014.

The impacts of climate change are increasingly becoming evident in the Pacific. Our communities need to build resilience to face more extreme weather and more regular disasters.

Vanuatu Red Cross Society is proud to have been involved in the development of the City Wide Risk Assessment Do-It-Together Toolkit for building urban community resilience. We thank the Global Disaster Preparedness Centre for selecting Vanuatu as a trial site for the coalition building climate change project.

Tropical Cyclone (TC) Pam was one of the worst
natural disasters in the history of Vanuatu. The
country suffered loss and damage to an extent
that vastly overwhelmed its own capacities. A
strong El Niño, in the months following the cyclone, acted
as additional multiplier for existing development problems,
especially with regard to water and food security
in rural areas. In many ways, the cyclone and its impacts
reflect political, conceptual and operational challenges
that lie at the heart of the current debate on loss and