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Preparedness in the Pacific - ETC Situation Report #2, Reporting period Q1 – 1 January to 31 March 2020

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Highlights

• The ETC in the Pacific supported the response to Tropical Cyclone Tino in mid-January with technical advisory services to assist affected countries and utilized the updated ETC hazard preparedness checklist as part of the response.

• The ETC Coordinator deployed to three Pacific Island countries from 31 January–5 March to continue the long-standing collaboration between these countries and the ETC. Discussions with key national stakeholders followed on from the ICT Capacity Assessments (ICA) conducted in 2018 and follow-up missions in 2019.

• The ETC Coordinator for the Pacific is part of the World Health Organization (WHO)-led Joint Pacific COVID-19 Incident Management Team (IMT). ETC Pacific is proactive in disseminating information and guidance in up to 21 Pacific countries and territories to inform communications and preparedness efforts during the COVID-19 response.

Response

• From 16–17 January, Tropical Cyclone Tino intensified to Category 3 as it passed over the Pacific, causing alerts to be issued across Fiji, the Solomon Islands, Tonga, Tuvalu and Vanuatu. Cyclone Tino brought heavy rain and strong winds to Tonga and Tuvalu. It was the second cyclone to impact the Pacific region within three weeks, following Cyclone Sarai in late December 2019. The ETC in the Pacific provided technical advisory services to assist affected countries with emergency telecommunications preparedness, including addressing gaps identified during the response to Cyclone Sarai, assessing the vulnerability of above-ground infrastructure, planning for prepositioning of ETC equipment and identifying back-up power solutions. The updated ETC hazard preparedness checklist was utilized to ensure national ETC key stakeholders were ready for potential impact.

• On 24 January, a week after Tropical Cyclone Tino struck, Tuvalu declared a state of emergency. The ETC supported the Tuvalu National Disaster Management Office (NDMO) with technical advisory services. The ETC also provided four tablet devices and one smartphone to assist the NDMO in carrying out assessments and to improve their communication capabilities.

• The ETC Coordinator for the Pacific deployed on a series of visits to the Republic of Marshall Islands (RMI), the Federated States of Micronesia (FSM) and Palau from 31 January–5 March. The mission aimed to establish continued collaboration between these countries and the ETC, following the ICT Capacity Assessments (ICAs) in 2018 and follow-up missions in 2019. The ETC Coordinator met with key stakeholders in each country to discuss a list of actions that have taken place since the previous missions and strategies to enhance the efforts of national ETC stakeholders by developing supporting documents such as Terms of References (ToRs), Standard Operating Procedures (SOPs) and 2020 Action Plans, in line with the national disaster management frameworks and the needs of Emergency Operations Centre (EOC) in each country.