Pacific Disaster Risk Reduction Ministers and disaster management officials visit the BlackRock Camp in Nadi. Photo: RNZ Pacific/Lice Movono
Pacific countries have officially agreed to use the Fijian Military's Blackrock Camp as a regional humanitarian relief depot.
Fiji's Disaster Minister Inia Seruiratu announced the endorsement of the Republic of Fiji Military Forces (RFMF) facility while outlining the 11-point declaration made by Pacific Island Forum's Disaster Ministers in Nadi.
The state of the art Peacekeeping and Humanitarian Assistance and Disaster Relief Facility, Blackrock, boasts a large scale relief warehouse, logistics headquarters necessary to coordinate relief response work, a medical centre, and physical training facilities.
The redevelopment of Blackrock Camp, conducted as part of the Australian Government's Pacific Step-up programme, cost $AU100 million and was built over almost three years.
"The disaster ministers have considered that the Blackrock Peacekeeping and Humanitarian Assistance and Disaster Relief Facility to be used as a regional humanitarian depot that would help overcome the challenges of geography in the Pacific and enable humanitarian actors to pre-position and stockpile relief items and support equipment for swift delivery in emergency situations," Seruiratu said.
Seruiratu said the declaration, which was endorsed by representatives from 17 Pacific Island Countries who attended the first Pacific Disaster Risk Reduction Ministers (PDRRMM) meeting, also committed to "working in genuine and inclusive partnership."
The PDRRMM, organised by the Pacific Community and Pacific Islands Forum Secretariat, was hosted by the Fijian government and aimed to escalate political leadership around disaster risk reduction.
Despite the recent political upheavals in the Pacific Islands Forum which culminated with the withdrawal of Kiribati in July, the PDRRMM chair Seruiratu said the Oceania islands, which according to UNICEF and the World Bank is the most disaster prone region of the world, would continue to work together.
"We do respect the sovereign rights of each member countries and that has not changed. The decisions that have been taken by the leaders does not in any way affect the working relationship and most importantly, this whole meeting is about humanitarian assistance, there is no politics in humanitarian work, because everyone is affected and therefore, everyone needs to be involved in bringing up solutions and that is the focus.
"You will see from the participation and you will see from the outcomes of the meeting, that is no one is left behind. We are all in this together and we will continue in this together."
Inia Seruiratu chairs the first ever Pacific Disaster Risk Reduction Ministers meeting. Photo: RNZ Pacific/ Lice Movono
'We can work to reduce the impact and risks that disaster cause'
The Pacific disaster ministers have committed to collaborating with wider stakeholders and communities to strengthen national disaster risk management and resilience efforts and to foster innovative and creative approaches.
The other parts of the declaration include full implementation of the Boe Declaration Action Plan, Framework for Resilient Development in the Pacific and the Sendai Framework for Disaster Risk Reduction.
Meeting organisers the Pacific Community said the declaration outlined the importance of initiating a high level forum specifically for disaster management.
Acting Director General Rhonda Robinson highlighted the value of having political leadership and initiating inclusive approaches in the future work of disaster risk management.
"We can't stop disasters from impacting our communities, but we can work to reduce the impact and risks that they cause. To do this, we all know we need to include the political leadership inclusivity, with communities at the table in a genuine way, coordinate across our regional technical agencies like ourselves, and commit towards genuinely local led emergency management solutions at all levels," Robinson said.
"We anticipate this meeting is not about another outcome document. It is about building our resilience or collegiality as a high level community, led by ministers, and also about delivering those actions at the national level and continuing to strengthen those actions."
Like the other sectoral Ministers meetings of the Pacific Islands Forum, the PDRMM will now be an annual event on the regional calendar.
