Fiji: Disaster management work to be full time and professional

A competency frame work has been developed to make disaster management work in the pacific full time and professional.

A draft paper on the framework will be tabled at the 20th Regional Disaster Management meeting tomorrow at the Novotel in Lami outside Suva.

SPC Consultant Mark Reid told FBC News, a competency framework creates a pathway for best skills and qualifications to plan, warn, manage and recover from disaster events in the pacific region.

“If you take the example of a first aider who might have done a Saint John or Red Cross course and they might have an interest in emergency management or disaster management, there’s an opportunity for them to gain additional skills or almost a career path that they can move into permanent employment or perhaps an emergency services or management and gain extra skills from there.”

Reid says, the “Competency Framework for emergency management practitioners” is important for a very effective disaster management off country in the pacific.

“Very often we don’t hear from the disaster management until something happens and there’s a lot of focus in their activities..what we wanna do is push this more towards being a profession and a noble profession people might want to take like the first aider we talked about and make it a career perhaps rather then just a step in the public service.”

Reid says, they would also want to see that disaster risk management qualifications are recognized anywhere in the world.

Some governments in the region including Fiji already recognize the importance of having specialized people.