By Glenda Willie - Daily Post Newspaper
Officers of the Vanuatu Red Cross Society (VRCS) recently undertook a two-week baseline study on Building Resilient Community in Vanuatu (BRCV), targeting 10 communities in West of Santo.
The survey aimed at confirming the current status of these 10 communities on how they respond to disasters and issues that have impacted the lives of the people.
Interviews were made with people and questions asked surrounded household needs, how the villagers respond when they were encountered with issues relating to natural hazards, health problems including any knowledge on first aid. Questions involved shelter needs, availability of evacuation centres, what sort of government services they are benefitting from, infrastructure issues, sanitation and hygiene, water and food security.
They were also asked about their approach in seeking assistance when faced with a disaster.
Information collected from their interviews would help Red Cross plan and carry out its programs in the communities.
Nicholson Naki, Data and GIS Officer with VRCS who led the Sanma team admitted that they were faced with challenges which contributed to delaying the implementation of the survey. He said in the communities, the villagers have their own routine which meant that the Red Cross team had to be patient and wait for the villagers’ timing.
Similarly to many other areas in rural parts of Vanuatu, telecommunication coverage is very poor. It was hard to communicate with the main office in Port Vila. Bade weather, poor infrastructures and deteriorating road conditions were some of the challenges mentioned by Mr. Naki.
He stressed that despite these challenges, the team managed to complete their survey.
A similar baseline survey is expected to be conducted on Emae island.