Republic of Vanuatu National Guidelines for the Selection and Assessment of Evacuation Centres

The island Republic of Vanuatu is one of the most climatologically and seismically vulnerable countries in the world. Situated in the Pacific’s ‘Ring of Fire’ and ‘cyclone belt’, it is susceptible to volcanic eruptions, earthquakes, tsunamis, cyclones and both flood and drought. With the onset of climate change, extreme weather events are increasing the number and severity of natural disasters. Within this document, an emergency shelter from impending disaster will hereafter be called an ‘evacuation centre’ (EC) and longer-term temporary accommodation for those who lose their homes as a result of disaster will hereafter be called ‘emergency or transitional shelter’.Through strategic partnership, the NDMO acquired support from the International Organization for Migration (IOM) to write these guidelines to identify, select and establish a database of potential evacuation centres to supplement the organization’s plan to meet its strategic objective 3: Enhance Disaster Risk Management (DRM) operations preparedness, response and recovery for a safer, secure & resilient Vanuatu. The NDMO as the coordinating body, with the help of these guidelines, will also be able to map and classify the different key stakeholders, actors and strategic partners to reach the goal of setting up evacuation centres across the country to strengthen disaster preparedness and response capacity.