In times of disasters, persons with disabilities are the most vulnerable. With support from the United States, this is the narrative that the Kingdom of Tonga seeks to change.
United Nations Office for Disaster Risk Reduction - Regional Office for Asia and Pacific
The report examines the frequency and distribution of natural disasters and analyzes their economic and trade effects, both at a macroeconomic and sectoral level.
Apart from the Sendai Framework, Tonga can learn from Fiji’s rebuilding efforts after Cyclone Winston hit the country in 2016. Like Tonga, Fiji suffered from widespread power and infrastructure and communications destruction.
BASE is finalising a feasibility study for the development of a remittance-based finance vehicle in Fiji, Tonga and Vanuatu that enables remittance senders to channel part of their remittances towards climate resilient solutions.
Tonga’s digital infrastructure wasn’t unprepared for disasters. Future funding of the existing Pacific cable network should focus on digital and technology solutions that can be managed, resourced and deployed locally.
The January 2022 Hunga Tonga-Hunga Ha’apai eruption and tsunami in Tonga was a ‘textbook’ example of complex, cascading and compounding risks. In this long-read blog, Bapon Fakhruddin and Emma Singh discuss the lessons learned for disaster risk response.
The Tonga Hunga-Tonga-Hunga-Ha’apai volcanic eruption, tsunami and ashfall has caused an estimated US$90.4M (TOP 208 million) in damages – the equivalent of approximately 18.5% of Tonga’s Gross Domestic Product (GDP).
Small Island Developing States are vulnerable to intensifying hazards from climate change. But the challenges that SIDS face in adapting can only be understood by looking at how these impacts interact with other risks – not all of them environmental.
UNEP: “Sound environmental management, climate change impacts and disaster responses are closely interlinked and require a more systematic and comprehensive approach to disaster risk management”
