In Tuvalu, a project that links high-tech forecasting and traditional knowledge to help people cope with disasters and climate change will be piloted to deliver meaningful weather and climate information in an effort to strengthen people’s resilience.
George Latu, the community chairman in Teone, is eager for the project to start to help his community prepare for hazards like Tropical Cyclone Pam. The community in Teone is a group of 540 people living on the edge of Tuvalu’s capital, Funafuti. They stay in makeshift stilt houses threatened on one side by the ocean, and on the other by a pit that fills with salt water at high tide. Most people in Teone are unemployed and have limited ability to replace rusty roofs or secure their houses. When they heard warnings about Cyclone Pam on the radio and by word of mouth, they heaved rocks to weigh down roofs and lashed ropes around house poles.
Source: IFRC