A couple of points here in response to Michael’s & Catherine’s comments.
1. There is always the challenge of stakeholders committing themselves to preparation work in the Normal/DRR Stage, where others priorities and inertia can set in. Also this current period (May-Oct) is an ideal time to prepare for tropical cyclones and drought (as they’re out of season). Interestingly I’ve received recent info that some (well at least one !) of the Tongan clusters is currently meeting…they’ve also picked up the point they also need to prepare for floods rather than just cyclones, drought, earthquake/tsunami, volcanos etc
2. The ideal is for Clusters to be Gov.Dept (rather than UN) led, and I sense this is now happening across the Pacific
3. Rapid communications re-establishment is a key factor following a major disaster such as a tropical cyclone (which may damage the telecommunications infrastructure…something which may require some time to fix). When I was in Vanuatu, it was recognised that ideally agencies should also keep their Contacts lists up to date with stakeholders who use R/T…agencies/organisations such as airport/port operators; provincial government authorities; tourism hubs; well resourced churches such as Latter day saints (LDS) etc
