Pacific Island countries are at the forefront of climate change and are at a higher risk of natural disasters. Given the intensity of cyclones and flooding experienced in recent years and the scale of destruction caused, it has become crucial that individuals are well equipped with disaster response skills.

Empower Pacific with the support of the Australian Humanitarian Partnership (AHP) has been conducting Psychological First Aid (PFA) training throughout the country to ensure that when an individual receives aid post-disaster, first responders are also able to provide adequate psychological support. This year we have conducted a total of five PFA training/refresher sessions in five communities across the country.

A three-day training on Psychological First Aid was facilitated by the Empower Pacific Labasa Branch for 20 community Leaders of Naqaravutu Village, Tikina of Tunuloa, in the Cakaudrove Province, Vanua levu. The organization was contacted by Ms. Cecilia Banitoga, the Founder of the Keisha Maria Foundation - an NGO based in the Naqaravutu community. She took notice of Empower Pacific after seeing the 24/hr toll-free Counselling Helpline commercial broadcasted via radio and television.

“I went to the office in Labasa and introduced myself and inquired about the support that can be given to the villagers,” she says. “What we noticed in the Rural village of almost 300 people, there is no support or knowledge around mental health and well-being and to target these areas is something we as an organization want to tackle”, she added.

Heeding to the request, a training was organized for the people of Naqaravutu. Empower Pacific’s Labasa Branch Team Leader, Ms. Shobana Indal says “It was a team effort to prepare for the trainings and all Labasa staff used their area of expertise to help the facilitators embark on a journey to Naqaravutu, Tunuloa for the PFA training.”

Naqaravutu community members received their certificates after the PFA Training

A few weeks after the training was conducted, a fire had destroyed one of the homes in their community. The home was occupied by an extended family of six individuals and an infant child. Five of the trained PFA Volunteers who were also part of the Foundation took this opportunity to practice the skills they had learnt.

Remains of the house destroyed by the fire
Source: KeishaMariasFoudation.NGO

One of the key principles of Psychological First Aid (PFA) is to Look, Listen & Link. The PFA volunteers were able to apply this principle by identifying the individuals that needed support, assessing the situation by collaborating with the community police officers and gathering resources and support services available to assist the victims.

Police Officer from the community police post overseeing the situation.
Source: KeishaMariasFoudation.NGO

The facilitator of the training Adi Selai Qomate who is a Social Worker at the Labasa Branch said “the importance of teamwork being emphasized during the training resulted in their collaborative response after the fire incident”. Understanding how the situation had affected the victims enabled the team of five to link them to avenues where they can get support. This included the Leader of the Vanua who engaged with the community and collectively gathered clothes, household items and food.

Co-facilitator, Ms. Paulina Talebula, a counsellor based at the Labasa branch said that their “session consisted of group work activities, case studies, the use of role-playing and sharing of real-life situations to help the participants understand the information that was being passed on to them”.

Community members participating in group activities

The PFA volunteers believe that they were able to respond to the crisis in an efficient and timely manner because of the PFA training they received.

The men of the village also came together to support the reconstruction of the victim's house. They have also been provided counselling support and the foundation aims to access the Fire Victims Assistance Programme from Department of Social Welfare to help rebuild the victim's home once the National Fire Authority can ascertain the cause of the fire.

𝑭𝑨𝑪𝑻 𝑭𝑰𝑳𝑬:

𝑻𝒉𝒓𝒐𝒖𝒈𝒉 𝒕𝒉𝒆 𝑨𝒖𝒔𝒕𝒓𝒂𝒍𝒊𝒂𝒏 𝑯𝒖𝒎𝒂𝒏𝒊𝒕𝒂𝒓𝒊𝒂𝒏 𝑷𝒂𝒓𝒕𝒏𝒆𝒓𝒔𝒉𝒊𝒑 (𝑨𝑯𝑷), 𝑬𝒎𝒑𝒐𝒘𝒆𝒓 𝑷𝒂𝒄𝒊𝒇𝒊𝒄 𝒊𝒔 𝒔𝒖𝒑𝒑𝒐𝒓𝒕𝒆𝒅 𝒃𝒚 ChildFund Australia (𝑪𝑭𝑨) 𝒖𝒏𝒅𝒆𝒓 𝒕𝒉𝒆 Plan International (𝑷𝑰𝑨) 𝑪𝒐𝒏𝒔𝒐𝒓𝒕𝒊𝒖𝒎

Post-Disaster Response Enhanced by Proper Training