Minister for National Disaster Management and Meteorological Services Jone Usamate has revealed during his briefing with the National Disaster Management Office that he was advised that Fiji does not have a telecommunications cluster in place.
While speaking at the 3rd Regional Emergency Telecommunication Cluster Workshop at the Pearl Resort in Pacific Harbour today, Usamate stressed that in any disaster, communication is crucial because timely decisions can be made to save lives and property through timely processes with the assistance of advanced technologies.
He says the workshop provides a good opportunity to examine the relevance of such cluster, especially with the growth of social media such as Facebook, Twitter and We Chat.
Usamate says these platforms can be used to disseminate vital information for preparedness, early warning, early recovery and humanitarian response.
Usamate says to ensure that communications is effective areas that need improvement must be explored such as having a clear Standard Operation Procedure that will benefit users in the timely dissemination of information of early warning systems.
The four day workshop brings together experts in the field of ICT including disaster management, practitioners and humanitarian partners and he also reminded the participants that their job is to strengthen coordination, especially for the country level emergency telecommunication cluster.
The 3rd Regional Emergency Telecommunication Cluster Workshop has participants representing countries that include Vanuatu, Fiji, Samoa, Solomon Islands, Tonga, Marshall Islands, Federated States of Micronesia, Palau, Kiribati and Tuvalu.
