Nauru
Nauru is an island republic located in the Pacific Ocean. As one of the world’s smallest independent states, it’s home to approximately 12,500 people within 14 districts, spread across 21 square kilometres. Nauru faces a wide range of food, water and energy security challenges unique to its context. For the 12,500 people living in Nauru, they remain highly reliant on imports for their food and energy, with fresh fruit and vegetables being flown in once a week and a regular shipping vessel transporting supplies on a five-to-six-week cycle. Due to climate change, they also face an increased risk of droughts, which can also impact their water security.
In addition to these risks, its historic legacy as a military base from World War 2 has also resulted in many unexploded ordnance (UXOs) buried deep underground, which poses risk to communities and critical infrastructure. As part of the country’s recent efforts to resurface its only airport, the Government of Nauru with support from the Government of Australia, discovered 96 anomalies underneath the airport that were potentially UXOs.
To investigate the anomalies and safely remove any UXOs found, appropriate risk management planning for the closure of the country’s only airport was necessary. Jeffery was deployed to Nauru’s National Emergency Services (NES) as a Humanitarian and Risk Management Adviser for 3 months to support this initiative, while building the capacity of NES for future disaster risk management.
Managing the risk
In the past, when Nauru had found an unexploded ordinance, evacuation zones could be set up for 2 weeks prior to its safe removal. This posed a genuine risk to Nauru’s food security, as fresh fruit and vegetables are flown in weekly, as well as other humanitarian risks related to medical evacuations, essential supplies, and economic and livelihood impacts. Jeffery, who began supporting this project following initial groundwork laid by his predecessor, Brian, acknowledged the importance of minimising these risks.
‘On the UXO project, I wasn’t the first deployed here. An Australia Assists Adviser, Brian, initially worked with NES, Department of Justice and contractors to find a way to get the closure of the airport minimised. Once a week, they get fresh fruits and vegetables flown in. So, we didn’t want to miss up to two deliveries of fresh fruit and vegetables,’ reflected Jeffery.
‘A key target was minimising the closure time. Brian was able to work with the team and get the closure time down from 14 days to 7 days. When I arrived, I continued the work with the team to figure out how we could get that down even further, and the team came up with some good solutions… We were able to get that down from 7 days down to 3 days by the time the operation started.’
At the start of the project, Jeffery also supported the NES’ initiative to engage with potentially impacted households and collect information which helped shape their disaster and risk management planning.
‘We did a door-to-door household survey, informing people about the project, handing them a pamphlet, but also doing a survey to find out how many people were in the house. If anybody needed transport assistance to get out of an evacuation zone, if anybody needed mobility assistance, and if they had a safe place to go,’ said Jeffery.
‘With all this information, we were able to do some planning around what kind of evacuation shelters we needed, how many beds, that we might need overnight shelters, and to identify the use of daytime evacuation shelters… We were also able to exercise this, prior to the start of the project – three desktop and one live exercise to practice setting up evacuation zones, and brainstorm and collaborate across different agencies. It was a really good team effort.’
Throughout the course of the project, three UXOs were found – two of which weighed 500lbs (227kg) – out of the 96 anomalies. Through the team’s efforts to plan and mitigate the risks, the longest closure of the airport was only 16 hours, a significant improvement from the historical 2-week time periods.
‘We did a door-to-door household survey, informing people about the project, handing them a pamphlet, but also doing a survey to find out how many people were in the house. If anybody needed transport assistance to get out of an evacuation zone, if anybody needed mobility assistance, and if they had a safe place to go.'
From strength to strength
During the active planning and management of the UXO project, Nauru also experienced two delays in the shipping vessel, which caused a rice shortage – a main staple in Nauru diets. Australia provided support upon the Government of Nauru’s request; however, this also led to a broader effort to strengthen Nauru’s food security.
‘We wanted to understand the situation a bit more, and started a Food Security Technical Working Group, which brought together key stakeholders responsible for food security and supply chains in Nauru. That’s the Department of Environmental Management and Agriculture, Customs, Civil Aviation, private sector, and started the conversation about food supply in-country. How much food stocks did Nauru have? What were the plans to bring food supplies into country, particularly rice? What can we do to better monitor this? How could we sound the alarm to make sure there was enough food supplies in the country?’
During this time, Jeffery also supported NES with a broader effort to strengthen cross-agency collaboration. While Nauru has an existing Disaster Risk Management Plan, the plan pre-dates the establishment of Nauru’s NES – which was established with the National Disaster Risk Management Act of 2016.
‘They had a National Disaster Risk Management Plan from much earlier, but it doesn’t align with the existing legislation…and there were no Standard Operating Procedures for priority hazards and risks that exist for Nauru. And for UXO management, those coordination structures didn’t exist… With support from an Australian Defence Force advisor, Captain James Bonney, it was important for NES to build these relationships for the first time in disaster risk management planning, especially for the UXO project.’ said Jeffery.
Following the completion of the UXO project, Jeffery’s work increasingly focused on strengthening Nauru’s institutional structures and cross-agency collaboration. As part of the broader maturation of relationships in disasters, a conversation evolved on the need for strengthening the countries disaster management framework, including looking at developing a national cluster system for Nauru to strengthen preparedness and response efforts.
‘We’ve definitely had positive feedback from different agencies saying yes, we understand that disaster is something we have to focus on, and that NES has proven itself to be able to handle responses… Formalising some of those relationships between different stakeholders to move to that preparedness and forward planning… We just started having conversations, if there’s a need for a Protection cluster, and there was keen interest, and just moving forward with those steps, including which partners they’ve worked with in the past that might be a good co-lead to assist them,’ reflected Jeffery.
‘Same thing happened with Education, Health and Nutrition, Emergency Telecommunications. So, you know, just assisting them having those conversations and eventually drafting terms of reference, and then getting those moved over into an updated National Disaster Risk Management Plan that would highlight how the Government of Nauru and key partners would coordinate.’
For Jeffery, however, he ensured that he was supporting Nauru’s process towards a localised approach that would be adopted for their coordination structures.
‘One thing I reminded them: the international cluster system was developed because of the big 2005 tsunami, when national and global systems were absolutely overwhelmed. That’s how the international cluster system was created, and that Pacific island countries do not have to try to emulate this international system if it does not work for them. It’s good to understand how the international system will be coordinated in the event of an overwhelming disaster. But for countries like Nauru, they have their ministries, their relationships, their networks and their ways of working. So, making sure they develop a national cluster system that’s right for them is important.’
'It’s good to understand how the international system will be coordinated in the event of an overwhelming disaster. But for countries like Nauru, they have their ministries, their relationships, their networks and their ways of working. So, making sure they develop a national cluster system that’s right for them is important.’
Listening and absorbing
At the foundation of Jeffery’s work has been the importance of building relationships and trust through listening and learning: ‘I think they have a really great team with solid leadership, and it was easy to plug in and work with them. Secretary Barassi Botelanga, Deputy Secretary Newman Rykers, Director NDRMO Dimin Reweru, and other team members were welcoming and happy to work with me, and with the work that Brian had started, so I think that really established a lot of trust,’ reflected Jeffery.
‘You know it’s about listening and absorbing off the front end before you can really start adding value… and being able to get on with people – that’s important… I’m really happy with the relationships I’ve been able to develop with the teams and partners here. It’s not about clocking out at the end of the day… I think the team is proud of what we’ve been able to achieve and where they’re going, and I’m really proud of that. I think they’re in a good place.’
Disclaimer: The information and views published here are the individual’s own and do not necessarily represent the partner organisation, Australia Assists or the Australian Government’s views, positions or opinions.