Rapid Technical Assessments (RTA) to TC Harold completed for Penama, Sanma and Malampa provinces.

The Rapid Technical Assessments (RTA) for Penama, Sanma and Malampa provinces have been completed and the National Disaster Management Office (NDMO) will present the final report this week.

The RTA for the most affected provinces of Penama, Sanma and Malampa was undertaken from April 10 to 14, just days after the Tropical Cyclone (TC) Harold passed close to most of their islands.

Several teams consisting of specialists from each cluster were deployed from Port Vila to do these assessments and report back to the NDMO.

The Cluster groupings assisting NDMO with the RTA are Wash, Health, Gender and Protection, Education, Logistics, ICT, Shelter and Food Security and Agriculture.

Prior to the RTA, initial damage reports were coming in from different sources and this information needed to be verified by an independent source and therefore the NDMO organize RTA teams from Port Vila to conduct detailed assessments on the ground.

A RTA is usually undertaken after the Initial Community Assessment (ICA) has been undertaken at the community level mostly by the Community Disaster Committees (CDCs) and other community leaders after the cyclone had passed.

According to the RTA preliminary report by NDMO, the targeted areas for the RTA in Penama province are Central Pentecost 1 and 2, North and South Pentecost, East and West Ambae with a total of 70 affected communities assessed.

In Sanma province, the RTA was conducted in Luganville, East and West Malo, East and West Santo, North Santo, South East Santo and Canal Fanafo with 158 communities assessed.

For Malampa province, the RTA teams assessed Central, North East, North West and South East Malekula, North and West Ambrym and Paama with a total of 118 affected communities.    

A total of 346 affected communities within the three provinces were assessed during this exercise.    

The assessed communities were chosen based on the aerial surveys taken just after the cyclone had passed, which shows the amount of damage on the ground and also most of them were located along the cyclone track.

NDMO confirmed that all data analysis of all completed RTAs have been completed and the Planning team is currently working on a final report that will be later presented to all Clusters and Partners at the end of this week.

The final report will assist Clusters, Partners and the government stakeholders to prepare for further distribution and to link their response plans with the NEOC emergency response plans in the coming days.

Meanwhile all assessment teams for Shefa and Torba provinces as the second priority provinces based on the damaged caused by TC Harold, are continuing with the RTA this week.