Early warning system needs assessment and investment plan for the Pacific Islands: Tonga

Pacific Island countries (PICs) are among the most vulnerable nations in the world due to the combined impact of meteorological and geophysical hazards. The effectiveness of early warning systems designed to reduce exposure to hazards depends on people’s capacity to understand and respond to a given situation. This remains a challenge in most countries and is a high priority in PICs, where early action is essential to save lives and to protect livelihoods and property. A common approach to multi-hazard early warning systems (MHEWSs) has been advocated by national meteorological services (NMSs), which are primarily responsible for forecasts and warnings of weather, climate, and geo-hazards. MHEWS inform the people of the potential impacts of impending natural hazards, the risks on their lives and livelihoods, and the action they should take. To be effective, this approach entails multistakeholder cooperation and coordination between and among national science, disaster risk management agencies, and other relevant stakeholders. The aim of this assessment is to validate gaps, which have been identified in the capacities of these agencies to minimize the adverse impacts of meteorological and geophysical hazards (hereafter natural hazards), which can result in disasters that affect the entire economic, human, and physical environment and impact the long-term development of the Kingdom of Tonga.