Disaster Response Workshop

In disaster management efforts, a workshop entitled, “Disaster Response. Significant Vessel Grounding – Ping Da 7” was held at the Tuna Commissions annex building on Thursday, April 24, 2014 that included state and national officials and other regional authorities.

To shed light on the full scope of current status of Ping Da 7, the capacity building workshop examined different facets in identifying the precisions on what steps could be used as a vehicle of moving forward with the removal of Ping Da 7.  Using a framework that will initiate certain measures in working with innovative solutions, comparative lessons and preparedness planning were also discussed around the roundtable.  Designed to increase awareness, regional authorities, leaders and participants voiced their concerns regarding preventive measures by carefully examining the environmental conditions and situation at hand.  The Ping Da 7 incident is considered both a High Risk and High Value because of the size, unfamiliarity of the area and the damage it can cause to the Pohnpei Port and the pristine natural resources.  Responders were vigilant to understanding of the vessel grounding impacts, “This is a wake-up call for all National Government and State Government because we haven’t dealt with this, especially Pohnpei State,” said Lieutenant Governor Marcelo K. Peterson.

The State Government is initially the first to respond to such incident -- the extent of National Government involvement is upon request. By sharing responsibility, the National and State Government have both taken a collaborative approach to proactive readiness and bridge advances of the Ping Da 7 incident. Francis Itimai, Secretary of Transportation, Communication and Infrastructure (TC&I) confirmed that this is not the first removal of a large vessel to take place, but the first to pull together as a joint task force.

The FSM Congress appropriated $2 million to the response of this emergency.