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Pacific island nations are some of the world's most disaster-prone countries, yet only a handful have signed up to an insurance scheme that dispenses rapid payouts in a crisis because they feel they are not responsible for most of their climate risk. However, insurance experts hope to change this situation by creating more insurance risk coverage.

An international initiative to improve early warning systems against extreme weather and support climate change adaptation is gaining momentum to protect more people in more places. Financing has been extended to cover the Caribbean and West African regions. The initiative is improving early warning systems to protect the most vulnerable populations in LDCs and SIDS.

The Pacific Islands Forum Economic Ministers Meeting considered proposals for a new financing facility for resilient infrastructure, and a climate insurance facility to protect against the effects of climate change. These mechanisms would strengthen financial resilience and insure slow-onset and extreme weather events not covered by existing instruments.

The Joint National Action Plan forDisaster Risk Management and Climate Change Adaptation (JNAP) provides a roadmap to guide the Cook Islands in implementing Priority 5 ('Resilience') of the National Sustainable Development Plan 2011 -2015. The Goal is to

This publication seeks to support governments in the Pacific in planning policies and allocating resources to reduce the economic impacts of disaster events. It describes the potential direct and secondary effects of natural disasters on Pacific

Australia, Cook Islands, Fiji, Federated States of Micronesia, Palau, Republic of Marshall Islands, Samoa, Solomon Islands, Tonga and Vanuatu all participated recently in training on use of the Sendai Framework Monitor.

This document comprises 22 sections covering a range of topics and issues relevant to international support to disaster response in the Cook Islands. The 22 sections reflect sectors and processes through which response may be channelled or targeted

For the second year, a High School students Summit was organised in Japan to mark World Tsunami Awareness Day. Young people from 26 countries participated.