FOLLOWING the recent unrest in Honiara the National Disaster Operation Centre has now been placed on full activation mode and are preparing to launch its humanitarian response to the situation.
On Sunday 28th November 2021 The National Disaster Operations Committee (N-DOC) Committee of the National Disaster Council (NDC) convened its first meeting to deliberate on appropriate response to the event.
Initial assessment shows widespread damage to properties and businesses from three days of looting and burning mainly from the China town area and going towards the Ranadi industrial area and further up to the Burns Creek area.
The latest Situation Report says the Solomon Islands Red Cross Society has also activated its conflict response plan and will be leading the registration of Internally Displaced Persons (IDP) to be supported by the Livelihood Sector Committee. Communication with the leadership of the Solomon Islands Chinese Association for security purposes and to carry registration and identify their immediate needs has also been established.
According to the NDMO the situation has given rise to some challenges that needs to be addressed with urgency by the various N-DOC Sector Committees. These include National Security, Livelihood, Education, Infrastructure, Health and the Camp Management Sector.
One of the immediate tasks identified by N-DOC was to conduct an integrated assessment to address humanitarian imperatives of internally displaced people, structural integrity of burnt out buildings and proper waste management, and conduct a damage and loss assessment to evaluate the effects of the unrest on targeted infrastructure and assets including the flow on effects on service delivery and its quality, access to goods and services, governance and social processes as well as other underlying risks, and estimate the damage and loss caused by the civil unrest to infrastructure, productive sectors and the economy including the macro economy. This assessment should inform the Government of measures to support IDPs and recovery efforts.
The NDMO is the operational arm of NDC that is responsible for coordinating and managing the national response to and recovery from disaster events including most man-made events such as the recent riots. Should the public need further information on the current operation, the NEOC can be reached on Phone: 27063 or the toll free number 955 during official hours.
