Livelihood Committee Reviews Honiara Lockdown Plan, Develop Savo Volcano Preparedness & Response Plan

A one-day workshop meeting to review the Honiara Lockdown Plan and to develop the Savo Island volcano preparedness and response plan was held by members of the Livelihood Sector committee (LSC) on 4th August 2021 at the Heritage Park Hotel in Honiara.

The aim of the workshop is for the committee to review the current Honiara Lockdown Plan 2020 in light of the Covid-19 Delta Variant that is badly affecting our pacific neighbours and for the committee to develop the Savo Island Volcano preparedness and response plan.

Chairman of LSC and the Deputy Secretary Technical (DST) of the Ministry of Agriculture and Livestock (MAL) Michael Ho’ota said LSC is one of the six committees under the arrangement of the National Disaster Operation Committee (NDOC) and legally setup in accordance to the National Disaster Council (NDC) act 1989 and the National Disaster Management Plan 2018.

“LSC is a representative of many agencies, both government and non-government organisations and it plays an important function during disaster by developing a livelihood disaster plan, assessments with National Emergency Operation Centre (NEOC) and respond to gardens, market, crops and facilities, tourism, forestry, fishing, village and communities, economic activity and heritage,” Mr. Ho’ota said.

Mr. Ho’ota said on the 5th of July 2021, the Covid-19 Oversight Committee (OSC) established under the Prime Minister’s Office directed the National Disaster Council (NDC) to task the National Disaster Operations Committee (N-DOC) to initiate the detail operational planning on two specific planned operations. “One of these two directives was for N-DOC to lead the review of the current Honiara Lockdown Plan 2020 and its associated Standard Operation Procedures (SOPs). The directive has come about as a result of the increase number of community transmissions of the covid-19 Delta variant Fiji and other neighboring countries are experiencing. And also due to some unusual activities on Savo Island the committee was advised by NDOC through the Ministry of Mines, Energy and Rural Electrification (MMERE) for us to develop or come up with a Savo Volcano preparedness and response plan.”

He said it was a fruitful meeting because it captured wider stakeholder’s contribution to the plan.

The review also permitted the committee to identify challenges and make recommendations.

LSC members are representative of the ministry of Agriculture and Livestock (MAL), Food and Agriculture Organisation (FAO), Ministry of Forestry and Research (MoFR), Ministry of Fisheries and Marine Resources (MFMR), Ministry of Commerce, Industry, Labour & Immigration (MCILI), Ministry of Rural Development (MRD), Honiara City Council (HCC), United Nation Development Programme (UNDP), UN women, UNICEF, World Vision Solomon Islands (WVSI), Oxfam, Solomon Islands Chamber of Commerce and Industry (SICCI), PHAMA Plus and Kastom Garden Association (KGA).

The review activity was supported by the UNDP Disaster Risk Management (DRM) project which is being implemented with the financial support from the Australian Government Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade (DFAT).

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