Held over two days, the workshop brought together representatives from national technical agencies, disaster risk management authorities, emergency services, community stakeholders, development partners and regional organizations to review Fiji’s existing arrangements for earthquakes, tsunamis, volcanic hazards, volcano-generated tsunamis and landslides.
The workshop was led in collaboration with the Mineral Resources Department, the National Disaster Risk Management Office, the Fiji Meteorological Service and UNESCO’s Intergovernmental Oceanographic Commission. It supported ongoing national efforts to strengthen end-to-end, people-centred and multi-hazard early warning systems aligned with the United Nations Secretary-General’s Early Warnings for All initiative.
Participants examined the full warning chain, from hazard detection and monitoring to technical assessment, warning dissemination, community preparedness and response. Discussions focused on clarifying institutional roles, strengthening coordination mechanisms, improving communication pathways and identifying operational gaps that need to be addressed through harmonized Standard Operating Procedures.
For Fiji, where communities, infrastructure and livelihoods are exposed to multiple geophysical hazards, integrated SOPs are essential to ensure that warnings are timely, accessible, clearly understood and linked to coordinated action. The workshop also emphasized the importance of inclusive approaches that consider the needs of vulnerable groups and support effective communication to the last mile. Mr Saula Mule, Head of the Fiji National Tsunami Warning Centre, highlighted the importance of strengthening coordination, communication and preparedness across the full warning chain.
Today’s workshop represents an important milestone in Fiji’s journey toward a more comprehensive and people-centred multi-hazard early warning system.
Mr Saula Mule, Head of the Fiji National Tsunami Warning Centre
Mr Jiuta KOROVULAVULA of UNESCO-IOC encouraged participants to engage openly and contribute actively to the development of nationally owned SOPs.
Together, we can build a stronger, more coordinated and more inclusive early warning and response system for Fiji.
The workshop concluded with agreement on priority SOP components, an initial drafting roadmap and next steps for validation, testing and continued collaboration across Fiji’s disaster risk management and technical agencies.
UNESCO-IOC, with the support of the Government of Japan and in partnership with national and regional stakeholders, continues to support Pacific Island countries in strengthening geophysical hazard resilience, tsunami preparedness and multi-hazard early warning systems. The Fiji workshop contributes to broader regional efforts to ensure that early warnings lead to early action and that communities are better prepared before, during and after hazardous events.
For more information, please contact Jiuta Korovulavula, National Professional Officer for Tsunami Warning and Disaster Risk Reduction, j.korovulavula@unesco.org.
READ MORE: https://www.unesco.org/en/articles/fiji-advances-integrated-geophysical-hazard-preparedness-through-first-national-sop-workshop?hub=701
