THERE are plans to pilot a "cluster approach" to help strengthen disaster preparedness and capacity for emergency responses.
This was revealed by Minako Kakuma, the humanitarian affairs officer at UNOCHA (United Nations Office of Coordination for Humanitarian Affairs), during a four-day Disaster Management Exercise held at the Novotel Convention Centre in Lami yesterday.
In this approach, each cluster comprises agencies whose mandates complement the mission statement of the cluster.
Some of the prioritised cluster structures include health and nutrition, water and sanitation, emergency shelter, and protection. According to Ms Kakuma, each cluster had an organisation as the cluster's leader, such as the World Health Organisation as the global cluster lead for health and United Nations Children's Fund for water and sanitation.
"The Pacific has a vast ocean mass with small and scattered population. This makes an assessment difficult to conduct and also brings about logistical constraints," she said.
A cluster approach could help solve these problems, Ms Kakuma said.
According to Ms Kakuma, a cluster approach would help strengthen disaster response by demanding high standards of predictability, accountability and partnership in all areas of activity.
"It will also help achieve strategic responses and better prioritisation of available resources by clarifying the division of labour among organisations, and better defining the roles and responsibilities of humanitarian organisations within the sectors," she said.
