RSIPF participates in Regional Disaster Management Forum in Honiara

Officers of the Royal Solomon Islands Police Force (RSIPF) have participated in a two-day workshop on Regional Disaster Management Forum at the Heritage Park Hotel from 23-24 October 2019 in Honiara, Solomon Islands.

Director National Emergency Management and Special Events Planning (NEMSEP) Inspector Brian Kama says, “Ten RSIPF participants attended the workshop and they are officers from NEMSEP, Police Maritime, Fire and Rescue Service, the Police Response Team (PRT), Explosive Ordinance Disposal (EOD) and Forensics.”

During his presentation at the Workshop Police Sergeant Jamie Hagaria from NEMSEP spoke about the role of the RSIPF in disaster response and humanitarian assistance and also the challenges RSIPF have in terms of limited resources with the scatteredness of Solomon Islands. During the forum, Civil Military Coordination responsibilities were highlighted, a responsibility vested on RSIPF during disaster response.”

Director Kama says, “Major Nicholas Wilson from the Australian Defence Force (ADF) with the Combat training Centre, Joint task force (JTF 637) and National Disaster Management Office (NDMO) jointly conducted the forum to ensure guidance in developing coordination and cooperation for disaster responses. Different government ministries who form the sectors for Disaster response and the National Emergency Response Team (NERT) including RSIPF attended the forum.

The United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Assistance (UNOCHA) representative Mrs Vini Talai also spoke about strengthening the Coordination of Emergency-Disaster response and Humanitarian assistance

The groups were given a scenario of cyclone hitting Western Province (Gizo, Kolobangara and Munda). The various groups discussed ways to respond to such as situation including awareness about the warning before the disaster occurs.

Inspector Kama says, “The workshop successfully ended on 24 October 2019 with a visit on board HMAS Adelaide which is currently in Honiara.”