The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints is linking arms with the Polynesian Federation of Civil Protection (FPPC) in a project to increase emergency preparedness in communities across the islands of French Polynesia.
FPPC is an officially approved organisation, that works with local authorities to provide emergency response support when disasters strike.
The Church is donating specialised rescue equipment, which means that rescuers can now receive the professional water rescue training needed to prepare for future emergency operations.
Manea Tuahu (pictured on the right) and Sam Roscol, project chair, inspect rescue equipment donated by The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints.
Sam Roscol, project chair, and Manea Tuahu (pictured on the right) inspect rescue equipment donated by The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints.© 2022 by Intellectual Reserve, Inc. All rights reserved.Selected Latter-day Saints will join the team of volunteer rescuers and will receive first responder training through FPPC, including certification to operate a chainsaw.
Manea Tuahu, Church Welfare and Self-Reliance manager, explained that “all rescuers are volunteers. Most of them are firefighters by profession or trained responders.”
“These volunteers are registered and recognized by name on the operational readiness list of the official journal of French Polynesia,” Tuahu said.
“It is great to work with an organisation that shares a common goal, to help people be better prepared to face temporal difficulties,” said Tuahu.
Among the major natural risks that French Polynesia has faced, floods are the most frequent and the most devastating disasters in terms of human and material loss.
Tuahu reports that “in recent years, floods have increased in intensity.”
“Some flooding happens almost every year in some areas. Major flooding events happen every five to ten years,” he said.
The last major event was in January 2017, when hundreds of people were impacted. Some lost homes and many were disconnected from power supplies.
In July 2022, Tahiti was battered with eight to nine metre sea swells and flooding occurred in the Western coastal regions of Tahiti.
Tuahu said, “Church leaders have repeatedly invited us to be prepared, and we are happy to do so, by working hand in hand with organisations in the community, such as the FPPC to help relieve distress and go to the rescue of our friends and neighbours, when the time comes.”