The National Disaster Management Office today announced that 5 new Tsunami Warning Sirens will be built in the Suva area by the end of this year.
While presenting on National Tsunami Preparedness at the Pacific Resilience Disaster Response Exercise and Exchange, NDMO Officer Salote Sarasau revealed that there are two Tsunami Warning Sirens in the Suva area located in Lami Town and the lower USP Campus.
However the siren in Lami Town is currently undergoing maintenance work.
The National Disaster Management Office has also revealed that there will be public tests of the Tsunami Warning sirens from the beginning of next month however no dates have been provided.
The NDMO has identified challenges with the warning systems that they hope to tackle during the 4 day training such as providing warnings for remote islands that do not have access to mobile or radio signals as well as a warning system for the hearing and visually impaired.
The NDMO also has plans that are being formulated for blast message systems across all mobile service providers as well as Radio and TV warning systems in the three languages.
Meanwhile, the 4 day training program that concludes on Friday focuses on key areas such as warning, mitigation, evacuation, Search and Rescue and Medical Response training related to disaster response.
