Ocean experts meeting this week in Noumea hope their research can help Pacific people better prepare for the impact of natural disasters.
The Institute of Research for Development and scientists from the Pacific Community are looking at data about the oceans and how it impacts on marine tourism, fisheries, and climate services.
Co-ordinator of the Oceans and Tides Knowledge Unit at the SPC, Molly Powers-Tora, said the information they analysed following Cyclone Winston could help limit the damage from future disasters.
"We did send teams to do assessments of some of the worst hit areas and we found that there was a lot of locations where communities were badly affected if we'd have more information in advance we could of advised evacuations of some of those areas," she said.
"So when we model events like that it can help us better understand future events."
Molly Powers-Tora Photo: twitter
