Pacific focus on building better in response to disaster threat

Transcript

Cyclones in the Pacific are becoming more devastating.

Since records began 45 years ago, 11 category five cyclones have been reported in the region, with two of those occurring in the past year.

Many are now saying that means the entire way people build and provide services in the Pacific needs to change.

Bridget Grace reports.  

Last month, Cyclone Winston pummeled Fiji and was one of the strongest storms ever to make landfall. UNICEF says the Pacific has always experienced natural disasters, but global warming and a rise in ocean temperatures is leading to more. Its Pacific representative, Karen Allen, says such events are becoming the 'new normal' and Pacific countries need to plan and prepare for all possibilties.

KAREN ALLEN: "People are trying to figure that out, trying to understand the enormity of the resources that will be required.  It's clear that the traditional coping mechanisms and the traditional places that people ran to during a storm, even those are not sufficient."

The United Nations Office for Disaster Risk Reduction has recently assembled an informal working group with other organisations in the region. Its Sub-Regional Coordinator for the Pacific, Timothy Wilcox, says the group's focus is to reduce the risk of future disasters by rebuilding in a different way.

TIMOTHY WILCOX: "Otherwise what's going to happen is people reconstruct a house, or a building but they're not actually taking into consideration that another cyclone is going to happen.  Which means that unless they actually make the new building resilient then we'll just simply be repeating all the mistakes of the past."

Mr Wilcox says strategies can include using tie down straps to secure a roof or rebuilding a house in a safer location. He says there's no reason a cyclone cannot pass over a town in the Pacific with a disaster not being declared.

TIMOTHY WILCOX: "For example a cyclone is not actually a disaster, it's a hazard. But whether or not the community that you have has the infrastructure and the systems in place that it can absorb the shocks of those hazards, determines whether or not it it becomes a disaster."

Mr Wilcox says disasters cost a lot of money and in the long run it's cheaper to build in a way that is resilent.

TIMOTHY WILCOX: "Our statistics show for every 1 dollar you spend in risk reduction, you can save between 4 and 7 dollars in response and reconstruction costs."

He says reports have shown a building can be made resistant to certain hazards for only 10 percent more than the original budget. The Institute of Fiji Engineers is also part of the informal working group and is reviewing the standard house designs used by the Ministry of Rural Development. Its president, Warren Yee, says it's not just the design that is important.

WARREN YEE: "It's also about the construction, has the building been constructed in accordance with the design, has the materials used been to the appropriate standard that is called for in the design."

Mr Yee says it is hoped the review will lead to better standards for rural houses. He says buildings can be built to withstand a category five cyclone, but the cost can be prohibitive.

WARREN YEE: "Yes it is possible, to withstand category five, but it will become a very expensive structure.  The materials that are used would be of a much higher quality, and with it comes the cost."

Mr Yee says, to withstand category five cyclones, the glass needed is only available from one manufacturer in the world. He says Fiji's building standards will need to be reviewed. The standards are now available online and Mr Yee says he hopes anyone involved in Fiji's reconstruction will access the documents. Under Fiji's national building code, cyclone certificates are required for homeowners to obtain insurance. Mr Yee says residential buildings usually receive category three or four certifications, with public buildings in some cases in the category five range.