Building the Kingdom of Tonga’s resilience further with the support of the Government of Australia

On Tuesday 16th February 2021, the Australian High Commissioner to the Kingdom of Tonga, His Excellency Mr Adrian Morrison with the Minister for MEIDECC, the Honourable Mr Poasi Mataele Tei officially commissioned the new warehouse.

This newly built warehouse is for the National Emergency Management Office (NEMO) and their humanitarian partners in the Kingdom of Tonga, to be better prepared to support Tongan communities with their relief efforts in the event of a disaster.

The CEO of MEIDECC, Mr Paula Ma’u advised that, “the new NEMO warehouse was designed and built, to consider the hazards that Tonga is prone to, such as tropical cyclones, earthquakes, tsunami and droughts, and to hopefully withstand some of these extreme elements.”

The opportunity for increased storage in preparation for disasters is warmly welcomed. The people of the Kingdom of Tonga as well as Tongan humanitarian agencies will also benefit from the building of this new warehouse.

His Excellency, Mr Morrison also presented a container filled with shelter related items to be used by affected communities, if required, following a disaster. The Honourable Minister for MEIDEC gratefully accepted the donations from the Australian High Commissioner. MEIDECC CEO reiterated, “in receiving these goods, we gratefully accept Australia’s contributions and wish to acknowledge the continuous warm relations between our two governments.”

The Minister of MEIDECC also used the opportunity to launch the new website for NEMO. The new NEMO website is at www.nemotonga.gov.to.

Mr Paula Ma’u shared, “We hope the NEMO website is used as an important communication tool for Tongans, the Tongan diaspora and also to those who have made Tonga their home. We hope the information provided assists everyone living in Tonga in building their resilience at the individual level, with their families, communities, villages, districts, island groups and across the Kingdom of Tonga.”

The CEO also advised that, “It is still a work in progress and will continue to be updated, with opportunities to receive feedback from our communities to guide us”.

The NEMO warehouse and donated container of goods, along with the launch of the NEMO website will support NEMO’s ongoing role to build a resilient Tonga.

The total cost of the warehouse was AUD $605,000 and the donated container of non-food items was AUD $8,2000.