Disaster resilience at Caritas Fiji
Na veiqaravi ni leqa tubukoso ena Caritas Fiji
Supporting communities in Fiji to prepare for a disaster
What is DRR?
Na cava DRR?
Fiji regularly experiences extreme weather conditions such as tropical cyclones, floods and prolonged droughts alongside earthquakes and tsunamis. Our Mission at Caritas Fiji is to promote human dignity, social justice and marginalized, and vulnerable communities across Fiji. There is nothing that threatens human dignity and the vulnerable more than natural disasters. Caritas Fiji works with local communities and partners to deliver humanitarian support and long-term resilience-building to restore hope and stability in the aftermath of destruction
Preparedness: Bracing for the inevitable
Communities in Fiji are constantly under threat from natural disasters; cyclones, earthquakes and tsunamis. Our calling at Caritas Fiji is to help prepare communities, so when the worst comes, they are ready for it. We travel to communities every year to support them to prepare for cyclones and tsunamis. We bring supplies, run workshops and training, collect data, set up locally led systems and co-ordinate and sharing resources and best practice between communities.
Emergency response: Answering the call
When the worst strikes – Caritas Fiji is there. We provide emergencies supplies using our network of prepositioned containers to support human dignity: food, water and shelter. We work directly with the NDRMO, FCOSS and other NGOs to co-ordinate our response and ensure all effected communities are supported. With Caritas Fiji, no-one is left behind.
Recovery: Building back together
We don’t just provide supplies and leave. We are committed to walking with our communities along the long road to recovery.
We support with farming tool kits to help communities get back on their feet, assessments of damage to repair buildings and WASH projects to ensure repair damaged water systems. We walk with communities on the long road to recovery, in the good times and the difficult times..
Mitigation & learning: Moving forward together
We take back what we see to governments to learn and grow and improve systems to prepare for the next event. We advocate about climate change on the global stage to tackle the root cause. For us, DRR is a cycle, where we prepare, with respond, we recover and we learn together.
Caritas Fiji Disaster Risk Reduction Team distributing Disaster Kit to a Community of St Andrew Parish, Savusavu.
What is DRR like at Caritas Fiji?
E vakaevei na DRR ena Caritas Fiji?
For us at Caritas Fiji, Disaster Resilience and Response is not just about turning up after the worst has already happened. It’s about supporting and empower communities to be proactive and prepare themselves for natural disasters with their own locally led solutions that suit their context. Communities in Fiji have always prepared for natural disasters and have deep traditional knowledge and wisdom. Our job is to support and guide local communities through resources, training and co-ordination through the parish network – to make sure we learn and grow together
Communities lead the solutions – we guide and support
Communities in Fiji have been dealing with natural disasters all their lives. They have deep traditional knowledge and wisdom that has served them for generations.
Our role at Caritas Fiji is supporting communities through bringing, resources, support, co-ordination and accountability.
We provide communities with what they need: food and water supplies, WASH kits, tools – often from local prepositioned containers. We set up locally led systems, like disasters committees in local parishes that develop their own response plans. We support villagers to work together to share knowledge and resources between them. We collect data and run regular refreshers and training sessions to keep disaster preparedness front of mind for communities, so that we are always prepared.
We have deep reach with the church and parish network
Our team has professionals including a counseling psychologist, a trauma specialist, WASH and disaster preparedness professionals. We don’t just turn up and chat, we have the expertise and wisdom to understand the issues in the community and translate expertise and make it relevant in their context.
We’ve been involved with the Truth and Reconciliation Commission, United Nations Climate Change Conference, Disaster Committee and many other networks bringing about change in Fiji.
We bridge the gap between expertise and the on the ground reality. Just like with our WASH and advocacy work.
We bring expertise and make it relevant to communities
Communities can benefit from external expertise. But there is a need to translate it to make it relevant to their context.
We have worked with the Ministry of Health and Medical Services, Ministry of Agriculture and Waterways, Ministry of Employment, Ministry of Women, Children and Social Protection, and the Ministry of Youth and Sports, Pacific Recycling, National Fire Authority, Police Force, Empower Pacific.
We bridge the gap between high-level disaster management and the on the ground of repairing damaged buildings and restoring local water systems.
We work with the diversity of Fiji
Fiji has over three hundred islands with extremely diverse communities; urban settlements, remote islands, highland villages, all with a different mix of dialects and religions and ethnicity.
Every community takes a different approach to disasters. Coastal communities focus on early warning and evacuation. Highland communities are more concerned by nearby wind, debris and nearby rivers.
We work with each community to ensure they develop plans that work for their context. This ensures that, when it comes down to it, the plan is implemented and actually effective.
Our latest work
Na noda cakacaka vou
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A new water system in the highlands of Ra
The team has built a gravity water system delivering clean and fresh water to more than 400 people in Soa village, in the west of the main island of Fiji.
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Amplifying Pacific Voices: Caritas Fiji Champions Climate Justice on the Road to COP31
Caritas Fiji joins regional civil society leaders to shape climate action, secure sustainable futures, and demand a just transition for frontline communities.
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Rooted in the Land: How Lakeba Island is Turning the Tide Against Rural-Urban Drift
Caritas Fiji partners with local faith leaders to empower eight villages in Lakeba with sustainable solutions, ecological stewardship, and renewed community hope.
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Healing Through Listening: Our Contribution Along the Path to Truth and Reconciliation
The Caritas Fiji team has supported the remarkable spiritual and pastoral groundwork to prepare communities for Fiji’s Truth and Reconciliation Commission.
