NEMO conducted Initial Damage Assessment (IDA) Workshop with Stakeholders ^Featured

The goal of the workshop is to utilize the existing Cluster system in place, which leads by government Ministries and where civil society organizations are part of one or more of the 10 Clusters currently exist in Tonga to co-design an IDA process and implementation in order to improve the its efficiency and effectiveness.

IDA is a process that carried out to obtain an initial evaluation of the damage to each sector and is typically carried out within the first 48 hours after the disaster has occurred. It involves a numbers of trained assessors making observations of the extent of damage to each item or structure.

It is the second step of the three main steps in disaster damage assessment process where the last step is typically the detailed sector assessment which involves a more detailed follow up of IDA following the 48 hours after the disasters.

The processes, roles and responsibilities before and during implementing of the IDA were discussed during the workshop thus the Clusters, first responders and the civil society organizations reviewed and co-design them by setting common goals and objectives taking into consideration the people, process and technology framework. This co-designing IDA process and implementation workshop helped to achieve the following outcomes:

• The end to end process for IDA is understood and agreed by NEMO/Cluster Coordinators as well as co-design of the IDA process the overall national IDA team structure, roles and responsibilities are able to be mapped and are ready to be communicated across Clusters
• Following on from the workshop individual Clusters in conjunction with NEMO will be able to develop their specific processes for IDA response
• NEMO is able to produce operating procedures, conduct capacity building workshop and offer IDA training across all of government and partner agencies
• Implementation has a clear focus on people, processes and technology and recognizes that all three of those elements need to be visible in the IDA implementation plan

NEMO is positive that after these two workshops, the purpose and scope of IDA will improve its understanding and its implementation across all sectors in order to save lives and improve the resilience of the affected communities after disasters. NEMO is thankful for the ongoing support and partnership across various sectors of the society from government to community level to ensure a resilience Tonga in times of disasters and extreme weather events.