Disaster managers from twelve countries across the region at meeting in the Marshall Islands to try to improve on their plans for dealing with disasters.
The meeting, jointly hosted by SOPAC and the Marshall Islands government, aims to build on previous discussions.
SOPAC Community Risk Manager, Mosese Sikivou, says countries across the region need to understand how to manage not only natural but also man made disasters.
"Some of the issues that have to deal with are say for examples health related hazards, they have issues in relation to solid waste disposal, they have issues in relation to sea-level rise. And so these if you like open up the door for different dimension of hazards that the smaller countries need to deal with.."
Mr Sikivou says Vanuatu and the Marshall Islands have been leading the way for disaster management action plans and will play a crucial role in the meeting.
