Cook Islands tropical cyclones: DREF review

Author(s)
Gonzalez, D. and Rycx, Y.
Pages
11 pp
Date published
17 Jan 2011
Type
Evaluation reports
Keywords
Disasters, Cyclone, Response and recovery
Countries
Cook Islands
Organisations
International Federation of Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies (IFRC)

During the Tropical Cyclone Pat (TC Pat) emergency response, Cook Island Red Cross (CIRC) staff and volunteers were the first one on the ground for emergency assessment and distribution. The recognition of the beneficiaries and all the stakeholders in this key role in response has been well expressed during this review.

However CIRC faced some challenges as listed below:

  • Coordination issues with other stakeholders
  • Problem of beneficiaries’ identification
  • Logistic constraints and challenges
  • Gaps in communication with beneficiaries
  • Challenges in staff and volunteer management during an emergency
  • Lack of exit strategy (from emergency response to long-term support)

CIRC did some internal evaluation of their response just after the emergency and based on this learning, CIRC conducted some activities to address these challenges:

  • Pacific Disaster Response Team training
  • Hosted Regional Disaster Response Team training
  • Logistic training
  • Evaluation of the existing stocks and replenishment plans