In the Pacific Islands region, PRiMO has been bringing regional organizations and US agencies coming together with their state, territorial, and local counterparts, along with universities, NGOs,

and the private sector, to work together on enhancing the resilience of island communities to natural hazards and climate change.

PRiMO adds value to the work of government agencies by sharing resources, leveraging

investments, and encouraging active collaboration. Our collaboration saves money, improves service

delivery, and strengthens regional capacity to manage climate and hazard risks.

PRiMO collaborative efforts include improvements in public access to hazard and risk information, upgrades to emergency communications networks, and assessments of

risk and vulnerability for our communities.

PRiMO also contributes to regional climate service development, hazard mitigation planning, and the integration of science and traditional knowledge.

Vision and MissionCreate an informed and inspired Pacific community that has a comprehensive understanding of natural as well as

human-induced hazards risks, uses best thinking and best practices, and through shared resources makes the

best social and economic decisions. 

Increase collaboration to improve the development, delivery, and application of risk management products

and services for Pacific communities.

Organizational Structure

In 2009, PRiMO held its first meeting in the Western Pacific with

80 participants from 9 different island jurisdictions attending.

Adapted from the Secretariat of the Pacific Community’s original map design by iWave Solutions, Inc. for the Pacific RISA Program.

In March, 2011, PRiMO held its first meeting in the south Pacific with 70 participants from 8 different island

jurisdictions attending.

Adapted from the Secretariat of the Pacific Community’s original map design by iWave Solutions, Inc. for the Pacific RISA Program.

American Samoa Governor Togiola Tulafono stated that preparedness is onestep toward building resilience, and that we need to target our educationand outreach efforts with more specific messages to elicit better responsesto warning messages, such as to the elderly. But, we have many challenges togetting warning messages from local officials to the last mile within each village.

FEMA Region IX Pacific Area Office (PAO)• Serves as a liaison and advisor for Pacific jurisdictions and FEMA

◦ Area of responsibility (AOR) includes:* State of Hawai’i Territory of American Samoa Territory of Guam Commonwealth of the Northern Mariana Islands (CNMI)

10*FEMA may support the United States Agency for International Development (USAID) in responding to a disaster in the Federated States of Micronesia (FSM) or the Republic of the Marshall Islands (RMI).

REPUBLIC OF REPUBLIC OF THE THE

MARSHALL MARSHALL ISLANDSISLANDS

(RMI)(RMI)

COMMONWEALTH COMMONWEALTH OF THE OF THE

NORTHERN NORTHERN MARIANA MARIANA

ISLANDS (CNMI)ISLANDS (CNMI)

HAWAIHAWAI’I’I

AMERICAN AMERICAN SAMOASAMOA

GUAMGUAM

FEDERATFEDERATED ED

STATES STATES OF OF

MICRONEMICRONESIA (FSM)SIA (FSM)

• FEMA coordinates Federal disaster response

◦ Conducts response operations in partnership with State or Territorial, Tribal, and local governments; interagency Federal partners; nongovernmental organizations; and the private sector

• FEMA acts as the lead coordinator of Federal tactical emergency communications operations during disasters

◦ Integrates Federal assets to provide: Incident coordination communications for leadership Connectivity among key response facilities Tactical communications for responders in the field, including temporary Land Mobile Radio

(LMR) networks Temporary restoration of communications infrastructure

◦ Supplies connectivity to the FEMA-hosted Joint Field Office (JFO) facility

11

FEMA Role

Internet/Internet/Public Public Switched Switched Telephone Telephone NetworkNetwork(PSTN)(PSTN)

EOC/EOC/JFOJFO

12

FEMA Mobile Emergency Response Support (MERS)

assets

FEMA both provides and consumes technology

• As consumer

◦ FEMA and State or Territorial partners consume response technologies in fixed facilities and the field

• As provider:

◦ FEMA coordinates spectrum

◦ FEMA provides connectivity, service, and bandwidth for response communications technologies

satellite

LMR

Internet/

PSTN

Photos courtesy of FEMA/Glen Gorud and Dave Gonzalez

JFO/EOC/Responders

• Distances among/between jurisdictions and CONUS◦ PAO AOR covers 5.6 million square miles

◦ Only three to four commercial flights per week between Hawai’i and other jurisdictions in AOR

• Commercial and public safety service limitations

◦ Interoperability within State or Territory

◦ Availability of digital and advanced technologies

◦ Capacity (systems and available devices)

◦ Spectrum conflicts

◦ Long-haul bandwidth

Pacific Issues on a good day

13

• Communications infrastructure limitations◦ Coverage

◦ Legal/cultural impediments to equipment deployment/upgrades

• Terrain

• Languages in use

• Funding limitations

Photos courtesy of FEMA/Glen Gorud

• Distance between affected area and response assets◦ Air bridge limitations

• Communications infrastructure limitations◦ Vulnerability to natural

hazards

◦ Limited alternate pathways for internal communications

Pacific Issues on a bad day

14

◦ Limited alternate pathways for long-haul communications

◦ Lack of reliable alternatives to commercial power

◦ Lack of spare equipment/repair technicians

• Commercial and public safety service limitations◦ Interoperability (with non-public-safety agencies and incoming

responders)

◦ Capacity (available devices and system ability to accommodate incoming responders)

◦ Spectrum (State or Territorial and Federal; availability and conflicts)

Photo courtesy of FEMA/Dean Zierman

Technology Needed

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Issue Requirement

• Distance and air bridge limitations

• Small, light, genuinely “person”-portable tactical communications solutions (LMR repeaters, satellite antennas, patching equipment)◦ Can be carried on first available

transport

◦ Can be brought into incident area when larger aircraft cannot land

Right: Chuuk International Airport in FSM

Left: Cargo compartment of a C-130 headed to Guam. The aircraft is not large enough to transport many FEMA communications vehicles.

Photos courtesy of FEMA/Glen Gorud

Technology Needed (continued)Issues Requirements

• Commercial service limitations

• Emergency communications solutions developed for lowest-common-denominator environments

◦ Device/platform agnostic

◦ Minimal bandwidth consumption

Example:

◦ Applications using Short Message Service (SMS) text messaging

• Long-haul communications infrastructure vulnerabilities

• Satellite and high frequency (HF)-based connectivity solutions

• Power infrastructure vulnerabilities

• Solutions independent of commercial power

◦ Compatible with multiple power supply types, low-tech as well as high-tech Car batteries as well as solar panels

• Over 22 major languages in use

• Public messaging technologies capable of issuing alerts in any language/alphabet

16

17

Issues Requirements

• Public safety radio system limitations

◦ Capacity

◦ Interoperability

◦ Spectrum

• Low-cost standards-compliant radio handsets for incident distribution, to provide Level 1* interoperability among internal agencies and with incoming responders

◦ Compatible with legacy systems

◦ Easily reprogrammed

• Cultural impediments to deployment

• Technologies that minimize footprint/impact

Technology Needed (continued)

*U.S. Department of Homeland Security (DHS) SAFECOM program-defined levels of interoperability for public safety radio communications.

Photo courtesy of FEMA/David Hoegemeyer

August 2010: Representatives from the Office of Samoan

Affairs meet with a village chief to

obtain a land-use agreement for a

warning siren. The tower will be

installed in the blue circle.

PRiMO Communications Hui

PRiMO Communications HuiPriorities:

Improve the communications infrastructure that supports the two-way delivery of information that enhances the resilience of Pacific Island communities

Identify additional communication paths and leverage resources

Address dissemination gaps to the western Pacific

PRiMO Communications HuiAmerican Samoa Priorities:

Identify requirements for multi-hazard communications (satellite, HF, VHF, etc. to support disaster management.

Identify types of information required to be transmitted for 2-way wireless dissemination by local authorities to each village, regardless of platform, and leverage available resources

PRiMO Communications Hui2011 Priorities:

Replace/Refresh EMWIN systems in Pacific Island countries (Met Office/Disaster Management Offices before GOES-11 is replaced, and when PEACESAT’s rebroadcast of EMWIN on GOES-7 ends.

Assess use of RANET Chatty Beetles by Met Offices and Disaster Management Offices to wake up remote island officials of an impending hazard threat

Expand interoperable use of digital HF networks and VHF re-broadcast of local EMWIN broadcasts to meet the lowest capacity used by local island officials.

737 Bishop Street, Suite 1550Honolulu, HI 96813

www.primohui.org