Laitia Fifita, Director of the Tonga Meteorological Service (TMS), emphasized the importance of a robust disaster risk strategy during his speech at the Workshop on Climate and Disaster Risk Finance in the Pacific 2025 in Nadi this week.
Fifita outlined Tonga’s ongoing efforts to strengthen its disaster preparedness by collaborating with key parametric insurance companies, such as the Pacific Catastrophe Risk Assurance Company (PCRIC). This partnership aims to address risks from tropical cyclones, earthquakes, tsunamis, and drought.
“Tonga has already, through the Ministry of Finance, established its Disaster Risk Strategic Financing Policy 2021 to 2025,” Fifita explained. “It connects disaster risk with financial mechanisms at the national level, focusing on risk layering.”
He highlighted the country’s effort to make funding mechanisms, including insurance and payouts, more accessible through partnerships with the World Bank, ADB, and PCRIC.
Fifita also stressed the importance of Tonga’s preparedness, noting lessons learned from past disasters. “We need to develop policies that enable us to access various insurance levels and payouts when disasters occur,” he said.
He urged other small Pacific Island nations without disaster risk policies to consider implementing similar frameworks to better prepare for the growing challenges posed by climate change.
