SUVA, March 8 (Xinhua) -- Fiji's National Disaster Management Office (NDMO) signed a letter of Understanding (LoU) with the UN children's fund UNICEF on Wednesday, the Fijian government said.
The signing of the deal, which took place in Suva, initiates the use of the RapidPro platform to assist the Fijian government's efforts in disaster risk management.
Provided to Fiji through the UNICEF's Pacific office, RapidPro is an open-source platform of applications that can help the government deliver information quickly and connect communities to lifesaving services through the short message service (SMS) for mobile phones.
"In both periods of normalcy and disasters, it is important to have updated data and rapid avenues of information gathering and sharing between authorities, responders and communities on the ground," said Meleti Bainimarama, permanent secretary for Fiji's Ministry of Rural and Maritime Development and National Disaster Management.
RapidPro's applications, which are produced by UNICEF in partnership with universities and software creators, are constantly updated as new challenges emerge.
RapidPro has been used in several countries and it has been found that ideas and solutions were sometimes created at the grassroots level, said Sheldon Yett, UNICEF's Pacific representative.
A tropical small island country, Fiji is vulnerable to natural disasters such as earthquakes, tsunami and hurricanes.
