Disaster Waste Management Plan Launched
The formulation of the Lautoka City Disaster Waste Management Plan, funded by the Asia Pacific Network for Global Change Research, will improve technical expertise of staff. The Assistant Commissioner
Western Jone Bacau emphasised this while officiating as chief guest at the official launch at the Lautoka City Council Chambers yesterday.
“Natural disasters are real challenges to all Pacific Island countries and Fiji is no exception,” he said.
Mr Bacau said natural disasters destroyed years of municipality councils’ hard work in a few hours. “Mostly the local agencies are unprepared to handle huge amounts of disaster waste, let alone other urgent areas requiring immediate attention,” he said.
“Fiji, like other Pacific Island countries, frequently faces natural disasters, especially cyclones and flooding. We are now facing the emerging global risks associated with climate change.”
Mr Bacau added that the large quantities of disaster aftermath also posed the risk of disease outbreaks such as leptospirosis, Dengue fever, Zika and Typhoid. “The development of disaster waste management contingency plan will guide Lautoka City in making and implementing appropriate pre-disaster preparedness measures and timely post-disaster responses,” he said.
“This will ensure the quick recovery and restoration of our affected communities making Lautoka City more resilient to mitigate disaster waste from future natural disasters.”