More than 50 participants, from China, Japan, the Philippines and Fiji, participated in a disaster waste management contingency planning workshop and stakeholder consultation, co-organized by the Lautoka City Council (LCC), Fiji, and the Sichuan University Institute for Disaster Management and Reconstruction (IDMR) on March 23, 2022.

After the welcome remarks by Mr. Mohammed Anees Khan, the chief executive officer (CEO) of Laukota City Council, IDMR Associate Professor Glenn Fernandez provided an update on the project which is entitled “Developing Capacity for Post-typhoon Disaster Waste Management in Coastal Cities in China, Fiji, and the Philippines.” This project is funded by a grant to IDMR from the Asia-Pacific Network for Global Change Research (APN). The pilot cities of the project are Makati City, Philippines and Lautoka City, Fiji.  In addition to Sichuan University, the other partner universities involved in the project are Tongji University, Ateneo de Manila University, and Kyoto University.

The main objective of the project is to promote resource conservation and resource efficiency through the recovery of valuable materials from disaster wastes. By the end of the project, more than 100 city officials and other stakeholders in the Philippines and Fiji will be trained on disaster waste management. The participating cities are also expected to produce their own typhoon-specific disaster waste management contingency plans.

Prof. Gretchen Kalonji, the Dean of IDMR, formally closed the workshop. She enjoined the organizers and attendees to build on their newly established ties and continue collaborating even after the end of the project in August 2022. The Fiji Times, Fiji’s longest-running newspaper, covered the event.