State representatives of Palau successfully completed a three-day training session on how to go about assessing initial damages after disasters using the National Emergency Committee-adopted Initial Damage Assessment form.
The workshop was facilitated by the Geoscience Division of the Secretariat of the Pacific Community (SPC). The development of the Initial Damage Assessment form and the training was funded by the European Union’s Building Safety and Resilience in the Pacific Project which is implemented by the SPC.
Given the immense challenges faced by Palau during natural disasters, such as Typhoon Bopha and Haiyan in 2012 and 2013, participants were deeply appreciative of the efforts made to standardise the assessment forms.
The Initial Damage Assessment form together with the up skilling of state representatives will ensure that state offices are better equipped with the know-how to coordinate disaster assessments and in turn, respond immediately with reliable information to the National Emergency Operation Centre with the first 24 hours of disasters, in the future.
