PCRAFI Country Note Tonga

Tonga is an archipelago composed of 172
islands spread across a combined land and
sea area of 720,000km
2
. According to the 2011
census, Tonga had a population of 103,252 people
spread across 36 of the 172 islands. A population
scattered so widely across such a large area can
pose logistical problems for efforts to facilitate and
finance disaster response.

In January 2014, Tropical Cyclone Ian caused
widespread damage and destruction on the
islands of Ha’apai and Vava’u.

Approximately
1,094 buildings in Ha’apai were either destroyed
or damaged, and some 2,335 people sought
shelter in evacuation centers. There were reports of
significant damage to houses, infrastructure, and
agriculture across 18 villages located on the islands
of Ha’apai, including Uiha, Uoleva, Lifuka, Foa,
Ha’ano, and Mo’unga’one. Total ground-up loss for
this event was estimated at T$90 million (US$50.3
million), of which T$20.5 million (US$11.5 million)
was attributable to emergency loss (PCRAFI 2014).
This report presents for consideration a number of
options for improving current measures for disaster
risk financing and insurances:

(a) develop an overarching disaster risk financing
strategy aligned to existing processes;

(b) develop an operations
manual detailing the
processes required to facilitate swift postdisaster
budget mobilization and execution;
and

(c) develop an insurance program for key public
assets.