One of the world’s most disaster-prone nations, Vanuatu has launched an innovative platform combining satellite and admin data with open-source tools to forecast disaster impacts, loss and damage—showcasing how modern analytics can strengthen crisis preparedness in the Pacific.
Vanuatu’s Prime Minister has launched a first-of-its-kind climate change and natural disaster management information system, a set of integrated tools to improve decision-making in the face of crisis, supported by SPC’s expertise in statistics, data and digital innovation, and the World Bank.
The system is designed to accelerate the pace of assessments following disasters, enable faster deployment of resources to affected communities, and provide accurate financial estimates of damage to assets and infrastructure—contributing to quicker and more effective recovery.
“Vanuatu is one of the most disaster-prone nations in the world,” said the Republic’s Prime Minister the Hon. Mr Jotham Napat at the launch event.
“Every year, our communities face cyclones, volcanic activity, earthquakes, flooding, and the slow-onset impacts of sea-level rise and coastal erosion. These challenges place increasing pressure on our government systems, our budgets, and our ability to respond quickly and effectively,” he said.
The initiative has three core components that seek to fundamentally change how Vanuatu prepares for and responds to hazards.
Firstly, reproducible analytical pipelines, or ‘RAPs’—automated workflows built in the statistical programming language R drawing on past data and models—help estimate how much damage a disaster might cause, and what resources will be needed to respond and recover.
Secondly, satellite imagery and cloud-based geospatial analytical tools from Digital Earth Pacific, an operational Earth observation system developed by SPC to monitor environmental changes, are used to track shifts in land use, coastline erosion and unusual rainfall patterns.
Finally, the management information system brings together administrative data from Vanuatu’s government agencies, and the outputs of the first two components. Integrating these into dashboards and maps, it supports officials to plan ahead and, in times of crisis, respond effectively.
“This represents a significant shift toward data-driven decision-making,” Mr Napat explains.
“It [gives] provinces and line ministries better information. It improves fiscal planning by providing clear, evidence-based estimates of recovery needs. And it reduces the burden on our clusters by streamlining the collection, analysis and reporting of critical information during emergencies.”
The initiative began as one of several ‘innovative experiments’ of the PacStat project, implemented by SPC and funded by the World Bank, fostering statistical innovation and capacity-building in the Pacific Islands.
It was designed and implemented by the Vanuatu Bureau of Statistics in collaboration with Vanuatu’s Ministry of Climate Change, alongside technical input from SPC, the United Nations Economic and Social Commission for Asia and the Pacific, and private data science firm Development Seed.
For SPC, the project reflects its role as a regional scientific and technical assistance partner, explains Mr Peter Ellis, Director of SPC’s Statistics for Development Division.
“Vanuatu has really been at the vanguard of applying some modern data methods to the way that it tries to produce other things, such as trade statistics and the like,” Mr Ellis said.
“We’re really excited to see Vanuatu applying some of these modern data-engineering, data-science methods to its preparedness for climate change and disaster response.”
Built entirely using open-source software, the project has considered well-established concerns around country ownership and capacity development. Training and sustainability planning have been embedded to ensure its long-term viability.
“Some of the [existing] systems here were developed by technical experts from abroad,” explains Mr Andy Calo, Vanuatu’s Chief Statistician, translated from Bislama.
“When these experts depart our country, we [have historically been] unable to retain their knowledge and expertise. So the project is basically to help us design a system that we will be able to use … [one] that meets our needs and context.”
With shared learning and experimentation, and other regional partnerships such as the Pacific Data Hub, the project contributes to bigger goals around data-driven decision-making and development.
“As a nation, we have always been resilient,” Prime Minister Mr Napat said. “But resilience today requires not only courage and unity—it requires the intelligent use of data, technology and evidence. This system is a major investment in the future of our country.”
For more information on this story, contact:
- Mr Ben Campion, Communications Adviser, Statistics for Development Division, Pacific Community (SPC).
- Mr Nabil El Halwani, Communications Adviser, Digital Earth Pacific, Pacific Community (SPC).
Photo: SPC / Tom Vierus
