Transcript
MARLA PETAL: Well I think what we have learned collectively in the time I have been involved in this field, about 20 years or so, is that, first of all, we have to take an all hazards approach. It doesn't matter whether the next thing to hit us is a tropical cyclone, an earthquake, a volcanic eruption, or whether we are coping with slow sea level rise and coastal erosion. The principles are all the same. I like to explain in terms of doing assessment and planning, physical risk reduction - mitigation we call it - and being prepared to respond. Three different areas and the reason I like to do that is each of them is important and we don't want to miss out on any of them.
DON WISEMAN: Are we talking here about 'This is what governments should do or this is what the NGOs should do?'
MP: We are talking about all of the above because what we are talking about when we use that kind of approach is, it works at the household level, it works at the community level, the workplace, the school, as well as local government and higher level government. They all have to do the same things in their own sphere of influence and jurisdiction.
DW: In Fiji you have been working particularly with schools, so what is it you have recommended there?.
MP: It has been a wonderful prpocess in Fiji because they are very much dedicated to making schools safe for children and our goals of course are to minimise any deaths or injuries in schools and to support educational continuity, because what you don't want is to have schools by this, that or the other hazard impact for every year of the ten years of a child's education. So in Fiji this time around we have been working with the Education Management Safety System to build in a school safety self assessment process that is going to be a two way communication. So rather than just collecting data from the schools the moment that they have submitted their information about their hazards and what they have done to reduce their risks, they get a report back giving them recommendations on what they could improve on and how to do it.
DW: A lot of the NGOs and many of the governments in the Pacific I think could say legitimately that they don't just have the resources to do a lot of this work.
MP: Well our focus is on capacity development. it doesn't work well if you just help a few schools this time and a few schools next time. It's just a vicious circle and a drop in the bucket and hole is bigger than you are putting in. So because we focus on capacity development and have a great respect for what they have already put into place, we are having some wonderful results at scale.
DW: What sort of response did you get in Fiji to the work?
MP: Initially in Fiji our little project came in to demonstrate some work with 30 schools and almost immediately the government of Fiji said "Well we would like to do this for all the country. So let's design this for all 1,000 achools" And then on this trip they said "Well we are going to be supporting the government of Vanuatu to do this in the Vanuatu Education Management Information System. So whatever we have been able to support them with to put into place, is going to have ripple effects in other countries that weren't even on the list of results for us. So there are ways to do this and do it at scale.
DW: You are here in New Zealand to take party in the Emergency Management Conference - what sort of things are you going to be talking about there?
MP: I am very honoured to be invited to present on child centred risk reduction and school safety. So I will be talking about some innovative ideas about how all of us can do better next time. You know all of us have learned a great deal from the New Zealand experience. And it's not lost on us the tremonedous amount of risk reduction work that goes on in New Zealand. The tremendously long recovery time it takes from an earthquake like Christchurch. And so it becomes really important for us to have these partnerships, global partnerships really, to keep our eye on what's possible. You have a national treasure in New Zealand that most people don't about. It's called Health Songs International and there is a wonderful singer and I hope he will be on New Zealand radio soon. He knows so much about music in different countries that he can write songs in the local muisic style of anywhere. And what he does is train other song writers and get them onboard in writing the songs and leading children in song writing for saving lives.
DW: When you look at something like the volcanic eruption in Vanuatu at the moment, which has been going on, off and on, for eight months, and has got steadily worse over the last couple and there's been this talk of a possible complete evacuation of an island, completely uprooting communities - if you were coming into that at a later stage, how do you go about disaster risk reduction there.
MP: At a later stage you are always chasing your tail.
DW: Except you have got a problem that is continuing.
MP: It seems to be a long term problem and the same kind of thing is happening in Hawaii and volcanic eruption is one that we just don't have a huge amount of experience with do we? Because it's infrequent and it's incredibly unpredictable. But we do know at least some basics on how to prepare for some of those less intense impacts that are happening all the time. Let's just say, knowing how to protect your water sources and being prepared to protect your water sources immediately, or having your respiration gear so tht you can breathe, or knowing your evacuation route and how you are getting out. Knowing where you are going. I mean these are all things that have to be done ahead of time. So I would say that one of the things that has always handicapped us in disaster risk reduction is that on that list of things that we have for after the impact, all of it has to be done ahead of time. So it requires a great deal of forethought.
