Nuku’alofa, Tonga, 2 June 2023 - The United Nations Development Program (UNDP) Tonga Volcanic Eruption Crises Response and Coordination project team handed over 35 Samsung Galaxy tablets to the National Emergency Management Office (NEMO) last week. 

The delivery of these tablets complements UNDP’s broader support towards upgrading NEMO’s ICT infrastructure and strengthening of institutional arrangements for effective information management and coordination. The Government of Tonga has been proactively working with UNDP team to digitize the damage assessment process, which will aid NEMOs ability to proactively collate and assess data for response and recovery planning. Besides the ICT support, NEMO remains committed to strengthening governance capacities, and in this regard has facilitated the IDA Assessor training for 120 government officials, which was jointly supported by UNDP, UNOCHA, and NEMA towards the end of 2022 and early 2023. 

The Director for NEMO, Mr. Mafua Maka expressed his gratitude for UNDP’s assistance and commented, “TC Gita and the HTHH event highlighted the need for greater use of technology in Tonga’s disaster response from data collection, analysis, and the communicating of that data to ensure decision-makers make good, informed decisions. The IDA process delivered by our own people, coupled with equipment, and systems is foundational to those outcomes. These tablets are necessary elements to reaching those outcomes.”

The Director further commented that NEMO is preparing for another round of IDA Assessor training to be delivered towards the end of 2023 and looks forward to working together with its development partners in activities that continue to build the organization its stakeholder capacities and capabilities in responding to disasters.

The UNDP Pacific Office in Fiji Deputy Resident Represenative Ms. Yemesrach Workie congratulated NEMO in its efforts to improve and strengthen disaster response governance capacities for Tonga in the face of many challenges they have experienced. She stressed, “UNDP will remain committed to assisting national and local governments in building resilient communities and strengthening their adaptive capacity to respond to events like the HTHH”. Ms. Workie added, “I would like to congratulate the Government of Tonga for demonstrating their transition towards proactive disaster risk management”. 

In 2022, UNDP delivered the first set of assets and equipment to NEMO offices in Nuku’alofa and Vavau. The support provided aligns with the broader priorities under Outcome 4 of the Sendai Framework, which sets out the need for enhanced ICTs in DRR from forecasting and early warning to emergency communication systems, maintaining databases and case registries.