Fiji chosen as the first country in Pacific to pilot a major project

Fiji has been chosen as the first country in the Pacific region to pilot a major project which will allow the country to apply space–based technology, information and communication in strengthening disaster resilience.

National Disaster Management Office Director Akapusi Tuifagalele said the project would benefit the country immensely.

He said in light of the experiences that Fiji recently had with Tropical Cyclone Winston, this initiative comes at an opportune time as prior to Winston, access to information on a daily basis was somewhat isolated and compartmentalized.

Tuifagalele said a country like Fiji which is vulnerable to disasters must exploit these various resources to enhance the use of satellite based technology and information and communication technology applications and community level cost effective manner in a time where technology and the advancement in various applications towards strengthening disaster resilience is available.

He said the pilot project has already started and a two–day workshop for key stakeholders and development partners on the project is currently underway with technical assistants from the Asian Development Bank.

The pilot project site in Fiji is Nadi.