Indian Ocean Regional Disaster Management Programme

• As this year’s cyclone season gets under way, PIROI is ready to respond to disasters thanks to8 warehouses containing prepositioned suppliesin the Comoros, Mayotte, Madagascar (Antananarivo and Toamasina), Mauritius, Rodrigues, Seychelles and Reunion Island.
• 550 tonnes of prepositioned equipment will allow PIROI to respond to the priority needs of local populations by providing emergency shelters, water treatment equipment, essential non-food items and so forth.
• This year, in addition to capacity building for PIROI members at national level, we can work on preparedness capacity building at local level for the most vulnerable sub-regions through support from the DG ECHO.

Training Red Cross and Red Crescent teams

• PIROI-member National Societies participated in a cyclone season preparation exercise, taking the pandemic into account.Together NSs worked on responding to a fictional cyclone, factoring in the impact COVID would have on emergency response.
• The make-up of contingency supplies was reviewed in order to meet the needs of medical personnel and public health authorities. Additional personal protective equipment (PPE), masks, gloves, sanitiser gel, and disinfection sprayers have been included in PIROI’s stocks.

Sensibiliser les populations

Replenishing stocks

• Despite the impact of the health crisis on its activities, the PIROI Center has adapted to the situation by offering new training options such as e-learning and distance learning to better develop risk management stakeholders’ knowledge and skills
• In November two training sessions were held for branch disaster response team members(BDRT) in Madagascar; 51 people were trained
• In September a training course in psychological first aid was organised for the national disaster response team members (NDRT) of the Seychelles Red Cross Society
• PIROI’s portfolio of training has been expanded, and a new course, "Basic knowledge of COVID-19 and protective measures", has been added with the choice of either face-to-face training or distance learning

Taking the pandemic into account

• Disaster risk awareness raising
• Flood risk awareness raising