Pacific humanitarian workers face major logistical and access challenges, World Vision says

Humanitarian workers in the Pacific Islands face significant logistical hurdles, but unlike in other regions, they are not deliberately targeted, according to World Vision. The organization marked World Humanitarian Day by drawing attention to the extreme risks faced by aid workers globally, noting a threefold increase in deaths over the past three years, primarily in Gaza, Ukraine, and Sudan.

“

Access remains the biggest challenge for humanitarian workers in the Pacific Islands region, but humanitarians are not targeted as they are in other parts of the world, according to World Vision.

In contrast to conflict zones where aid personnel are sometimes targeted, World Vision's Hanna Taylor-Moller told RNZ Pacific that the Pacific region experiences a different set of challenges. "Access is the biggest challenge we are facing in the Pacific to reach the communities who really need it," she said. These communities are often small and located in very remote areas.

“

When we are responding to things like climate-induced or climate-driven cyclones, it's making them worse. But because we are responding to a lot of these areas by boat, small planes in the case of Papua New Guinea, access is the biggest challenge we are facing in the Pacific to reach the communities who really need it, who will often be a very small number of people in very very remote locations.

Taylor-Moller explained that responding to climate-induced cyclones and storms, exacerbated by phenomena like El Niño, requires extensive effort. "When you try and convey to people the work we do, people often like to hear these big numbers of the thousands of people reached, but the reality in the Pacific is that you'll go to huge effort to literally get food, supplies, soap, clean water to quite a small number of families in remote locations," she noted.

“

When you try and convey to people the work we do, people often like to hear these big numbers of the thousands of people reached, but the reality in the Pacific is that you'll go to huge effort to literally get food, supplies, soap, clean water to quite a small number of families in remote locations.

The logistics are daunting, especially in the immediate aftermath of a natural disaster. Low internet and phone connectivity in many Pacific Islands complicates the crucial first step of assessing needs. "The first port of call in a crisis is to find out what the needs are. And that's the first thing, trying to get people out to an area to assess it, local people who speak the language, who know the terrain, getting to find who's injured, who's in need of shelter, water, supplies, getting that information back - and then getting the necessary supplies out to these remote locations," Taylor-Moller said. She added that humanitarian workers in the Pacific generally operate with a higher degree of safety.

“

The first port of call in a crisis is to find out what the needs are. And that's the first thing, trying to get people out to an area to assess it, local people who speak the language, who know the terrain, getting to find who's injured, who's in need of shelter, water, supplies, getting that information back - and then getting the necessary supplies out to these remote locations.