Comissioner Central Division Josefo Navuku has urged that all 334 villages and 21 municipal wards in the Central Division form and maintain active disaster subcommittees.
Speaking at the Joint Coordination Committee Meeting for the Project of Mainstreaming Disaster Risk Reduction (DRR) in Suva yesterday, Mr Navuku said resilience depended on consistent community action and commitment from everyone working in the division.
“The Central Division covers about 40 per cent of Fiji’s population,” he said.
“It has five provinces from Mango Bay Resort to the Wainibuka border in Ra, and in Monasavu. We have 56 tikina, 334 villages, 160 district advisory councillors, and about 24 wards.
“Our collective effort is to ensure that over time, these villages and the wards within the four municipal councils have active and consistent DRR subcommittees.
“Otherwise, disaster risk reduction will just sit on the shelf until another meeting comes along.”
He said it was not enough to attend workshops or prepare plans without putting them into practice.
Similar to the Wednesday Wellness concept where an hour is committed each work week to prioritising staff wellbeing, Mr Navuku said his office had begun a one-hour Thursday exercise for disaster-related scoping and preparedness work, and encouraged other government ministries to follow.
He said the Central Division’s first Disaster Risk Reduction Plan, prepared with the Japan International Cooperation Agency (JICA) and the National Disaster Risk Management Office (NDRMO), should be completed by mid-November.
