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Home News & Media Releases Latest Snapshots 79, Disaster Reduction Programme, July - August, 2012

Snapshots 79, Disaster Reduction Programme, July - August, 2012

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From the Manager’s Desk

We’ve passed the mid-point for 2012 and have developed a few stories from the work we’ve done over July and August which we hope you will find interesting. These recent months have also seen a hive of activity for us in terms of our preparations for the 4th session of the Pacific Platform for Disaster Risk Management and Regional Water & Sanitation Consultations which are coming together this year in Noumea, New Caledonia on 17th – 21st September. We hope to have some interesting results from that meeting and look forward to sharing these with you in our next edition.

In July, SOPAC DRP bade farewell to our Training Support Officer, Vuli Gauna. During his time with the programme he visited a number of Pacific Island countries to assist with the development of national trainers and to implement DRM training courses in support of national capacity building efforts. Vuli recently led the completion and implementation of the new Disaster Risk Reduction course – a major undertaking.

Vuli has taken up a position with the International Federation of Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies (IFRC) regional delegation in Suva, as the Regional Disaster Management Programme Manager, and can be contacted at This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it .

We wish Vuli all the best in his future endeavours and know that his disaster management training expertise will still be utilized across the region in his new career.

I hope you will enjoy reading this edition.

Read Online | Download Full Issue (766Kb)

Mosese Sikivou
Deputy Director, Disaster Reduction Programme

Last Updated on Sunday, 16 September 2012 12:13  

Newsflash

Tuesday, 21, May, 2013 - The Secretariat of the Pacific Community (SPC) accepted the 2013 DigitalGlobe (Asia Pacific) APAC Innovation Award. This award is recognition of the systems and approaches SPC has taken in the adoption and introduction of DigitalGlobe imagery.

SPC has taken the raw imagery and applied the world class enhancement techniques that allow for users in Pacific Island Countries to utilize the images for climate change, food security, forestry and land management.

The image enhancement takes the special conditions of the Pacific environment into consideration. Products now include correction for humidity, haze and other atmospheric conditions. This improves the confidence in the information derived from the image data.

The award (see photo) was presented to Deputy Director General Fekitamoeloa K. ‘Utoikamanu in the Nabua SPC office in Suva, Fiji. “This has been a real stepping stone to improving the service to the Pacific Island Countries.  Already we are seeing economic and social benefits and I am looking forward to these benefits being realised throughout the Pacific and a closer partnership with DigitalGlobe”, said DDG Fekitamoeloa.

Caption (L-R): Wolf Forstreuter, Senior GIS Specialist, SPC Deputy Director General Fekitamoeloa K. ‘Utoikamanu, Peter Kinne (DigitalGlobe)