PacSAFE Project Disaster impact mapping for the Pacific

For Further Information: Geoscience Australia

Email: clientservices@ga.gov.au

Ph: +61 2 6249 9111 Web: www.ga.gov.au

eCat 102960

About the PacSAFE Project

The PacSAFE project is a response to demand from Pacific Island Countries for

tools to better understand disaster impacts. The project will provide Pacific Island

Countries training and technical expertise to strengthen disaster reduction and

disaster management. The focus will be to engage with national representatives

from disaster management offices who plan, prepare and response to natural

disasters.

The project will use spatial hazard and exposure data in a software tool

(PacSAFE) that can produce realistic natural hazard impact scenarios. The tool

will support evidence-based disaster planning. The PacSAFE tool will enable

users to interrogate scientific data to make informed decisions and develop

evidence-based policy.

The PacSAFE project will work in parallel with the Pacific Resilience Program, a

World Bank-sponsored program implemented by the Disaster Reduction

Programme of the Secretariat of the Pacific Community (SPC), to enable Pacific

Island Countries to integrate PacSAFE into their disaster management processes.

What are the benefits?

The PacSAFE software tool will offer a simple but rigorous way to combine data

from technical specialists, local governments and communities to provide insights

into the likely impacts of future disaster events.

Using a common preparedness and response tool in the Pacific region will enable

consistent damage assessment estimates in the event of a disaster.

The PacSAFE tool will also assist Disaster Management Offices to reduce some

of the logistical issues faced in trying to rapidly respond to disasters across

geographically dispersed island countries.

The PacSAFE project will also build the regional capability for natural hazard

modelling through dedicated training workshops with scientists from SPC.

At the completion of this project it is expected that Disaster Management Offices in

Pacific Island Countries will have increased capability to incorporate science into

disaster resilience planning.

What is the timeline? October 2016 – March 2017

Consultation and User Analysis - Geoscience Australia and the SPC will be

undertaking consultation with National Disaster Management Offices and related

government agencies within Tonga and Fiji to provide an overview of the

PacSAFE software tool, and to understand the regions needs and requirements.

This process will identify fundamental data requirements, identify priority hazards

and understand what the training needs are.

January 2017 – December 2018

Implementation and Training – Geoscience Australia and SPC will be assisting

identified National Disaster Management Offices and other organisations to

integrate the PacSAFE software tool into their disaster management processes.

Geoscience Australia will be providing training in using the PacSAFE tool, as well

as education on how to conduct natural hazard modelling for scenarios such as

tsunami, tropical cyclone and earthquake events. This training will take users

through the plan, prepare and response cycle in of disaster resilience planning.

Detailed hazard modelling training will also be provided to SPC to strengthen

regional capacity for modelling disaster events.

About our organisations: Geoscience Australia

Geoscience Australia is the geoscience advisor to the Australian Government.

Geoscience Australia provides information and advice to support risk mitigation

and community resilience to reduce the economic, social and environmental

impacts of hazard events.

Secretariat of Pacific Community (SPC) Secretariat of the Pacific Community (SPC) is the principal scientific and technical

agency supporting development in the Pacific. The Disaster Reduction

Programme within SPC provides Pacific Island members with technical and policy

advice and support to strengthen disaster risk management practices.

Craig Arthur1, Martine Woolf1, Sachindra Singh2 (1 Geoscience Australia, 2 Secretariat of the Pacific Community, Geosciences Division)

Figure 1: Example inundation impact map for Tongatapu, Tonga. The inundation is based on a simulation of a tsunami resulting from a Mw 9.0 earthquake along the Tonga

trench. Buildings are classified into low, medium, high and very high hazard zones, based on the simulated water depth. Source:

Figure 2: Example inundation impact report for Tongatapu, Tonga. The report

provides a detailed breakdown of impacts by building type, as well as action

checklists and a summary of the assumptions made in preparing the report.