NEWSPAGE 13 August
2010

(Photo: Massey University)

(Photo: Pacific Media Association)

SAMOA: New Pacific media body PacMA formed at Samoa meeting
Source: Pacific Media Watch via Pacific Scoop

The Pacific Media Association (PacMA) was formed in Apia, Samoa, yesterday at a meeting of media representatives from around the Pacific region.

In attendance were media operators from Samoa, Tonga, Cook Islands and Hawai‘i. Representatives from Vanuatu, Fiji and Papua New Guinea were unable to attend but contributed via virtual communications.

Savea Sano Malifa (editor-in-chief of the Samoa Observer) was elected chair of the new organisation, and Kalafi Moala (publisher and CEO of Tonga’s Taimi Media Network) was named vice chair. John Woods (managing editor of Cook Islands News) will serve as secretary-treasurer.

These media practitioners will lead the new board, which is comprised of Pacific regional media owners, operators and principals.

The new organisation’s stated goals are to promote and defend the values of media freedom, ethics, good governance, and to provide training for all media in the Pacific region.

“It’s a great honour for me to lead this new organisation,” said Savea, “and I know that I and all of the members will do everything in our power to advocate our core values.”

Statement on Fiji

One of the key outcomes of PacMA’s first meeting was a statement of the members’ position on the current media restrictions in Fiji.

The statement said: “The association finds censorship of the media to be unacceptable and we view the situation in Fiji to be of utmost concern. We extend our sympathy to our colleagues in Fiji, and because of our media freedom stance, and due to continuing state control of media, PacMA does not support or endorse media training courses held in Fiji.

“However, we would be grateful if Commodore Bainimarama would accept a meeting in Fiji with a delegation from our new association to discuss with him, in the Pacific Way, how we can arrive at solutions that may be of benefit to all parties.

“PacMa believes that a free media can be a powerful tool for positive nation-building.”

Membership in PacMA will include three categories: full, associate and individual members. Full voting members are media companies and regional and national media organizations that share PacMA’s general objectives, while associate members consist of academic institutions, news service suppliers and aligned NGOs and international organisations. Individual members include information officers, individual practitioners, freelance journalists, and other interested parties.

In the coming weeks, PacMA will develop a workplan that will reflect its core values and its organisational objectives.

“This is a historic day for Pacific media,” said Moala. “We are laying the foundation for a media organisation that will re-define and shape a new media approach that is deeply grounded in Pacific values and presents to the world a new way of looking at media, content, and stories - and the Pacific itself.”

PacMA website: www.pacific-media.org
 

(Photo: Australian High Commission)

AUSTRALIA: Free treatment offered by volunteer Australian medical specialists
Source: Australian High Commission Press Release

Free plastic and reconstructive treatment will be offered next week by a visiting team of Australian volunteer medical specialists who will spend 10 days at the Tupua Tamasese Meaole Hospital.

The team, which includes surgeons Dr Christopher Bennett and Dr Kim Taylor, anaesthetist Dr Alan Wallace and nurses Ms Simone Kairouz and Ms Fiona Wood, will be based at the national hospital from 15 - 24 August 2010. The visit is arranged by Interplast and funded by AusAID.

During their visit, the medical team will conduct specialist consultation clinics and perform plastic and reconstructive surgery.

The Interplast team will hold consultation clinics on Monday, 16 August starting at 9am at the Orthopaedic building at Motootua, with surgery performed at the national hospital.

Patients with conditions including scarring from burns, hand surgery and tumours as well as other conditions should contact the TTM Hospital on 21212 and speak to the Medical Records section, Dr Aleki Fuimaono or Dr Limbo Fiu. The clinic is by appointment only and patients must be screened by the surgical team or private general practitioners.

Australian High Commissioner to Samoa, Matt Anderson said this will be the 24th Interplast plastic and reconstructive surgery visit to Samoa since 1984.

“Interplast has been travelling to Samoa for many years to provide a very essential and in some instances, life saving surgery for Samoans,” Mr Anderson said.

“The Australian Government funds medical teams to come to Samoa so that Samoans have access to specialist medical treatment that is not available locally, as well as providing on-the-job training to local medical staff.”

The plastic and reconstructive medical team is the third Australian medical team to visit Samoa this year to provide free medical consultations and treatment. An orthopaedics medical team will also visit Samoa in October.

Photo Caption: Surgeon Dr Ben Norris treats a patient during last year's Interplast visit at the national hospital helped by Dr Joe Enosa and nurse Alaimalo Tafili.
 

(Photos: Phoenix Islands Protected Area / New England Aquarium)

KIRIBATI: Kiribati celebrates World Heritage Listing
Source: International Union for Conservation of Nature Press Release

Following the decision made at the 34th World Heritage Committee meeting held in Brazil last week, celebrations were high amongst Kiribati nationals residing in Fiji as they came together on Monday night to honour the efforts and the recognition awarded to the Phoenix Islands Protected Area as one of the new World Heritage Sites listed by UNESCO.

Kiribati’s Phoenix Islands Protected Area (PIPA) is the largest marine environment in the world that has remained intact thanks to its remoteness. Covering 408,250 sq.km of marine and terrestrial habitats, PIPA hosts one of the world’s largest intact oceanic coral archipelago ecosystems, together with 14 known underwater sea mounts and other deep-sea habitats. The structure and functioning of PIPA’s ecosystems illustrates its pristine nature and importance as a migration route and reservoir.

PIPA cover’s approximately 11% of the entire Economic Exclusive Zone of Kiribati and is declared a no fishing zone by the government.

Speaking at a press conference on Monday the President of Kiribati, H.E. Mr Anote Tong, expressed his delight at the new Sites chosen by the World Heritage Committee citing it as a “historical moment for the small island nation of Kiribati, its partners as well as the wider Pacific.”

“The profile of our region at the international level will be raised as a result of this. The preservation of the Phoenix Islands and the surrounding ocean is our gift to humanity and contribution to international efforts to significantly reduce biodiversity loss by 2010.”

Having begun with the Listing process in 2006, this achievement has come a long way involving various efforts and support from different bodies including the New England Aquarium, Conservation International (CI) and the International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN).

“IUCN and partners of the Roundtable for Nature Conservation congratulate Kiribati on their leadership in raising the importance of our ocean and their gifting of the Phoenix Islands Protected Area to the world - the challenge now is for governments, donors and conservation partners to stand with the people of Kiribati and provide the support to manage this incredible new heritage site” said Taholo Kami, Regional Director for IUCN.

Director for UNESCO’s Apia Office - Dr. Vise Pongi said “it is encouraging to see that we now have more Sites being listed from the Pacific. One of the potentials that Pacific Islands have is taking advantage of the natural resources they own and turning it into a sustainable economic enterprise”

“Many other countries are realizing the value of their island heritage. Fiji is currently finalizing its work to have Levuka listed as a cultural site”

The landscapes of Papahanaumokuakea in Hawai’i and Bikini Atoll in the Marshall Islands have also been inscribed as new Sites on the World Heritage List.

Photo Caption: Spectacular table corals that take decades to form are found throughout the shallow water coral reefs of the Phoenix Islands.
 

NEW CALEDONIA: 11th Triennial Conference of Pacific Women approaches
Source: Secretariat of the Pacific Community Press Release

Women’s issues are attracting more attention in the Pacific, but progress towards gender balance in institutions and legislatures is slow and many women are still subject to violence, poverty and poor health care.

This is the overall report card that will be presented to 150 participants from 22 countries, non-governmental organisations, development partners and funding agencies from around the region at the 11th Triennial Conference of Pacific Women next week.

The meeting - a major forum held every three years - will be hosted by the Secretariat of the Pacific Community (SPC) at its headquarters in Noumea, New Caledonia. The first formal session begins on Tuesday morning (17 August) and the conference will close on Friday (20 August) at midday.

Findings on the status of Pacific women are contained in the conference report Beijing+15, a review of progress in implementing the Beijing Platform for Action in Pacific Island countries and territories.

The report documents the persistence of high rates of violence against women, low proportions of women in all levels of decision-making and significant under-representation of women in the formal economy.

Although there is excellent advocacy on women’s issues in some areas and much better understanding and application of women’s’ human rights, the report notes the lack of gender balance in virtually all high-level national and regional bodies.

‘Pacific women in leadership positions are still a rarity rather than the norm,’ says conference organiser, Linda Petersen, Manager of SPC’s Human Development Programme.

‘Certainly there are policies and frameworks but these are not being translated into effective action, mainly because the region and countries lack strong institutional mechanisms to advance gender equality.’

The Triennial Conference will be asked to support a regional human rights mechanism and associated working group. It will also consider a regional gender equality strategy, the formation of an eminent persons group, a review of regional strategies and action plans, and improvements in the collection and use of gender statistics.

Workshop discussions will examine ways of alleviating the effects of economic crises and poverty on women, and improving education, training and women’s health - particularly sexual and reproductive health.

Throughout the meeting, the focus will be on progressing women’s involvement in decision-making, increasing the number of women in PICTs legislatures (only 12.3% at present), and following up with action on legal and human rights.

Participants will also consider improving women’s access to Information Communications Technology, engaging them in environmental issues, and potential action against the problems of teenage pregnancies and child prostitution.
 

(Photo: Pacific Media Centre)

VANUATU: Vanuatu could face more shocks in weeks ahead, says expert
Source: Pacific Scoop

A seismologist has warned that Vanuatu could face more tremors in the weeks and months ahead following Tuesday’s 7.5 magnitude earthquake and an aftershock rated 6 the following day.

“A small proportion of large Pacific earthquakes occur in doublets, with another relatively large event in the following weeks or months,” said Gary Gibson, of the Energy Research Institute at the University of Melbourne.

“There is no way of knowing whether another large earthquake will occur in this case.”

Since last September’s earthquake and devastating tsunami, there have been further quakes near Vanuatu in March and May this year.

Gibson believes the region, regarded at one and as the “Pacific Ring of Fire”, is just going through a stage.

“Earthquakes do seem to cluster in time and space, and we have some periods of relatively high activity, separated by longer periods of relative quiet,” he said.

Reports from Vanuatu have said few were hurt and damage was minimal.


Duty free smashed

David Miles, an adviser for Airports Vanuatu, said: “The main impact was that much of the goods on the shelves in duty free stores fell onto the floor so there was a large pool of broken glass and alcoholic liquid everywhere.”

Miles said there were some “nervous moments” at the time of the earthquake and that “people were given a bit of a scare and we evacuated the terminal to investigate any damage”.

However, tourists seem to have decided to stay put and there are few signs of visitors changing their plans.

Miles said most flights were running as usual, although an Air Pacific flight was postponed until Wednesday morning as the plane had been shaken on the runway during the earthquake and required further safety checks.

The runway also needed checks.

Jason Johnson, manager of the Moorings Hotel in Port Vila, said his guests were quick to relax after the initial shock.


‘All clear’

“After we gave the all clear, guests returned and pretty much all headed straight for the bar!” he said. “Some were quite shaken and some were just amazed at what they had seen and felt.

“We haven’t seen any forward cancellations and no one has checked out early. Everyone is keen to see their holidays through which is fantastic.”

Greg Pechan, of the Havannah Hotel, said that his guests were “fascinated” at the event.

Miles said tourists had “considered it as a bit of an adventure - however uninvited”.

For what was categorised as a “major” earthquake, there was reportedly little damage.

Johnson said: “Most of the hotels have reported only minimal damage and I have not heard of any serious injuries. At Moorings, we lost a bit of stock but had no damage to the buildings.”

Gibson said the relatively low level of infrastructure had been an advantage: “Most buildings in Vanuatu are relatively small or low-rise, so damage was limited.”


Structural damage

While many hoteliers only reported damaged glassware and stock, the tallest hotel building in town - the seven-storey Grand Hotel - was reported to have structural damage.

Miles said: “It was easy to see buildings physically displaced by what seemed like several centimetres.”

Miles was in the Grand Hotel building at the time of the earthquake.

“There was a tremendous noise followed by the sounds of breaking glass, mainly vases and glassware in the bar being thrown to the floor,” he said.

Since previous earthquakes, emergency evacuations are common place and most people were evacuated and headed to higher ground in the expectation of a tsunami. Johnson said, “we decided to evacuate immediately after the quake as a precaution. We had a pre-arranged procedure in place and it worked very well.”

Miles went home shortly after leaving the Grand Hotel and saw other evacuations taking place.


Higher ground

“From my verandah overlooking Erakor lagoon, I could see that Le Lagon Resort had evacuated its guests to higher ground on their golf course - as a precaution against a tsunami,” he said.

“They would have observed, as I did, that Erakor lagoon’s waters were churned up.”

However, only a 20-30 centimetre wave was recorded and the Pacific Tsunami Warning Centre did not issue a warning.

A centre spokesperson said earthquakes of that size could potentially generate a tsunami along coasts located closer to earthquake epicentre, and authorities in those areas should take action.

“Any large, shallow earthquake with vertical deformation of the sea-floor may generate a tsunami, especially along a coast line near to the earthquake rupture,” Gibson said.

There were mixed reports about warnings received regarding a possible tsunami.

John and Silvana Nichols, who run an online travel agency, said that they were left to their own devices.


‘On our own’

“No one can tell when it will come, and like most expats we have learned not to expect anything from the government agencies,” said John Nichols.

“We are on our own when these things occur.”

Johnson said: “getting accurate information was difficult as phone lines were clogged and internet was patchy”.

“I managed to get a call to friends in Australia who were able to reply reports from the US Geological survey website as they appeared.”

However, as awareness about tsunamis spreads, it seems the earthquake is all the warning that people require.

Johnson noted people were heading for high ground “well before any sort of official warning could possibly have been issued”.

Johnson believes radio should be the quickest way for alerts, but on this occasion it responded slowly.


Radio messages

“If we can’t expect to reply on phones and internet, then radio is the best way to get the message out but it seemed to take the radio a while to get the correct information,” he said

However Miles had a different experience.

“Local radio was very effective - we got quick reports of the impact of the earthquake, as well as advice to err on the safe side and stay on higher ground” he said.

“I think AM and FM radio coverage and mobile phone coverage are key factors in making sure people are aware.”

Miles was more concerned about the remote areas and their lack of access to vital information.

“It is more problematical in the outer islands where in many places there is no electricity, and no internet,” he said.

“But a lot of progress has been made in recent years in mobile radio coverage, to the extent that it is possible to access most parts of the country this way.”

Life is more or less back to normal for most ni-Vanuatu. Shops and restaurants are open and the biggest supermarket was only closed for an hour and was back to normal trade by 7pm on Tuesday.

However, the “adventure” might not be over yet.

Gibson is reluctant to predict that order is completely restored.

“The past few months have been particularly active, and my guess is that there may be more “interesting” events before we return to normal,” he said.

Photo Caption: Tranquil waters... for the moment, but an uncertain few weeks ahead. As the people of Vanuatu take stock of how lucky they have been after this week’s earthquake, the message is that it may not be the end of a “cluster”.