In the Face of Disaster: How a Village in Ba Survived a Deadly Landslide
When one of the deadliest landslides in the country shook Tukuraki Village in Ba, it left behind a devastation so great that a family of four died in the tragedy.
In 2012, the villagers were awoken to the sound of earth moving, trees breaking and panic filling the air.
Anare Taliga, 38, his wife, Mereoni Robe, 23 and their two children Losena Nai, who was 18 months old and Makelesi Matalau, who was six months old lost their lives in this tragedy. They were buried alive in their home.
The weather forecast at the time between January 24-26 was heavy rain, thunderstorms through most parts of Fiji. This was during the cyclone season.
Over the next five years survivors of this close-knit community were forced to abandon their village, which had been in existence for generations.
But after overcoming that tragedy a few years later, the village was handpicked in a 15-month relocation project led by the Government and supported by the European Union, and Pacific Community was initiated.
It was here that the Pacific Community’s Building Safety and Resilience in the Pacific Project (BSRP) saw the successful relocation of the villagers in October 2017.
It was opened by Minister for Rural and Maritime Development and Disaster Management Inia Seruiratu.
To date, the villagers have continued being the voice for resilience through a disaster of such magnitude.
The late Mr Taliga’ s brother, Jolame Sokia said: “If only he (Mr Taliga) was alive to see where we are today.
“That we had moved our families. We had left behind everything and have relocated in the mountains.”
This was an interview from a Fiji Sun report in 2017.
Survivors moved into their new two-bedroom house which included a community hall that doubles as an evacuation centre, complete with a bathroom and toilet.
Disaster and Community Resilience
The Pacific Community’s acting director Disaster and Community Resilience, GEM Division, Patrick Haines, highlighted the secretariat had a lot of relocation missions not only in Fiji but also across the region.
“There were negotiations with the village to relocate them because of sea level rise and it’s quite a contentious issue, relocating villages along our coastal areas, which is where a lot of our communities live,” he said.
“It means sustaining themselves through fishing and other things that we do now.
“It took a lot of negotiations with the Government and with the people in terms of getting them or explaining to them why that was necessary in the context of rising sea level due to climate change.”
They are working on helping vulnerable communities understand the science behind climate change and sea level rise so that people were well-versed with the idea.
Emergency Operations Centre
To increase awareness and coordination response, Mr Haines said they were working on improving national emergency operations centres.
“We recently, through the Pacific Islands Emergency Management Alliance project, helped the National Disaster Management Office (NDMO) review the Standard Operating Procedure (SOP) for the
Tukuraki Village in Ba in 2017. National Emergency Operation Center,” he said.
“This is such a critical element of response because it brings together different agencies from within Government, but also the support agencies outside of Government and into that critical area to then be able to provide a more efficient and effective response to the communities.”
The organisation, he said, was able to review the SOP with the NDMO based on lessons from previous
cyclones and past disasters, one of which was the deadliest Tropical Cyclone Winston in 2016 that killed 44 people.
However, there was a delay in their work because of the COVID-19 pandemic but that has begun to change.
The SOP will enable them to effectively and efficiently carry out a response.
Incident management system tools
Mr Haines said there was a need to make people aware of an incident management system in the operation centre that also aids response.
“So we’ve developed some online tools. One is called the Pacific Islands Incident Management System Training and EOC awareness training,” he said.
“These are both on the SPC Moodle and accessible to people in Fiji, whether you’re in Government or in the private sector or NGOs.”
The tools are free of charge.
“And it gives you a basic awareness of how an incident management system works and the functional teams that exist within an Emergency Operations Centre.
“The idea is to improve the level of understanding so when it comes to responses you’re cutting down the time because people are more
aware of their functions,” he said.
“We’re always looking at improving that space because it’s a critical element of a national response.”
Inclusivity
The organisation centers its work on people. It makes sure that when raising awareness of being disaster ready that all community members are included that is, the women, youths and the marginalised group like LGBTQI+ communities.
“Because women and men think differently, and women bring issues, usually from the home into these kinds of meetings,” he said.
“They give them the space to be part of that training. We do ensure that we are inclusive.”
“Whenever we conduct training at the community level or at the national level, we always ensure participation of women and youth in those programmes ensuring that their voices are heard in the training that we do because it is critical.”
Mr Haines said adherence to warnings from relevant authorities was vital.
“It’s being vigilant and being prepared as much as possible, he adds.
The NDMO has a big mandate to work with and having support partners like SPC, to help them deliver on their mandate is quite crucial.
“But at the end of the day, the message is only as good as what people receive and how they can themselves use that message to prepare themselves for impending disasters.”