The Pacific Humanitarian Team - 2018 Annual Report
Introduction
The Pacific Humanitarian Team (PHT) consists of humanitarian organizations working in the Pacific with the expertise and resources to support disaster preparedness and response in the region. The PHT members include the UN agencies, NGOs, the International Federation of Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies (IFRC) and other humanitarian agencies with the capacity to respond to disasters in accordance with the PHT Code of Conduct. The PHT plans and coordinates its work through three main structures, which include:
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Heads of the respective cluster organizations known as PHT Principals. The PHT Principals is co-chaired by the UN Resident Coordinators (RCs) in Fiji and Samoa and the UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (UNOCHA).
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The Regional Inter-Cluster Coordination Group – this group is chaired by UNOCHA and consists of the regional coordinators from each of the nine Cluster Support Teams and NGO representatives. The Regional Inter-Cluster Group focuses on operational issues and providing support to the national disaster preparedness and response systems.
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Cluster Support Teams – the PHT has nine Cluster Support Teams working in different sectors, each with a designated lead agency.
Six Pacific countries are now using a national cluster system that is based on the UN model. The regional Cluster Support Team fully recognizes and supports these national cluster systems or national sectorial committees where they exist. Where the national clusters or national sectorial committees are non-existent, the regional Cluster Support Teams are still able to provide coordination and technical support related to their sector at country level.
In 2018, the region was faced with several emergencies that drew the attention of the international community. Examples of these emergencies include Tropical Cyclone Gita that mainly affected Tonga and caused some devastation in Fiji and Samoa; the Papua New Guinea earthquake response; the ongoing Ambae Volcano response in Vanuatu which continued to prompt recovery support from the PHT; Tropical Cyclone Josie and Keni which affected approximately 77,140 people also causing severe flooding in parts of Fiji. The Pacific Humanitarian Team was requested by the affected countries to provide the necessary support in terms of response and recovery during TC Gita in Tonga and the Ambae Volcano response in Vanuatu. In Papua New Guinea, PHT members also provided in line support to national authorities in coordination with their in-country host agency.
During non-emergency situations, PHT members have largely provided preparedness support to their national counterparts; this included the provision of training, mentoring, technical expertise and resource support according to the areas and needs identified by the relevant national authorities. PHT regional cluster leads also undertook and organized regional and sub regional training according to their sectors to further build and strengthen the capacities and capabilities of their national counterparts to ensure timely and effective national response in times of emergencies.