Newly-refurbished emergency centre opens in Lautoka

The newly-refurbished Lautoka District Emergency Operations Centre (EOC) funded by the European Union (EU) under the Building Safety and Resilience Project was opened yesterday. In opening the establishment, the Permanent Secretary for Rural and Maritime Development, Meleti Bainimarama indicated that the refurbished EOC would ensure disaster response operations are not disrupted when activated during an emergency, adding that it would ensure increased communication within the district.

This is the fifth emergency operations

centre refurbished across Fiji in the past 12 months to increase disaster preparedness and communications before, during, and after a disaster.

The total cost of the refurbishment was $49,500 and Government would later consider replacement of furniture.

“We also acknowledge the assistance from the EU-funded ACP-EU BSRP project, which is implemented by the Pacific Community that has supported the upgrading of our Emergency Operation Centres across the country,” Mr Bainimarama said.

Team Leader for Natural Resources and Governance at the Delegation of the EU for the Pacific Ingrid Swinnen said: ‘’We envisaged that the refurbished Emergency Operation Centre will improve the planning, co-ordination and management of operations during emergencies and disasters, thus strengthening disaster response.” The Pacific Community’s Director of the Geoscience, Energy and Maritime (GEM) Division, Andrew Jones said: “The need for increased communication was identified by Fiji as a priority after the devastation of Cyclone Winston, through detailed consultations and countrywide research on lessons learnt.”

This is the fifth upgrade and retrofitting of a district-based emergency operations centre under the BSRP project. The others are in Nadi, Lautoka, Tavua and Nabouwalu.

Source: Joint PR: DEPTFO News, European Union and Pacific Community

We also acknowledge the assistance from the EU-funded ACP-EU BSRP project, which is implemented by the Pacific Community that has supported the upgrading of our Emergency Operation Centres across the country. Meleti Bainimarama Permanent Secretary for Rural and Maritime Development