Field Ready’s emergency response team is equipped to respond to disasters within 72 hours. We have responded to a number of emergencies recently. Here's some examples: the water crisis in South Sudan, the 2017 hurricanes in the Caribbean and volcano Ambae in Vanuatu. The Pacific Region is one of the most prone to disasters including, floods, droughts, tropical cyclones, earthquakes, volcanic eruptions, and tsunamis. We are currently building our roster in the Pacific Region s

When disasters occur, WASH supplies are desperately needed. In particular, adequate latrines are often unavailable. In Fiji, Field Ready is working with UNICEF and Habitat for Humanity to develop a portable latrine that can be distributed quickly and efficiently. Current emergency latrines are heavy and difficult to transport. They are often squat style which is preferential in Fiji and much of the Pacific Region. As a result, open defecation can become a problem, thus our ne

We are pleased to announce that Field Ready is now operating in Fiji. Fiji will serve as the hub of our operations in the Pacific Region, with our office based in Suva. According to the World Risk Report, the Pacific region is amongst the most vulnerable to disasters. We are working with the Australian Humanitarian Partnership (AHP), a five-year AUD $50 million commitment from the Australian Government to support humanitarian efforts through trusted NGO partners. Our Executiv

The Field Ready response team is currently responding to the devastation from the Ambae volcano in Vanuatu. Vanuatu is currently in a state of emergency until the end of September, but the effects from Ambae have left homes destroyed and the recovery will be a long process. The UN has named the country one of the most at risk for disasters. When the small island nation is hit with a disaster, the whole country is affected. With the eruption of Ambae, the ash has destroyed cro

Field Ready has many emerging plastic projects, from small scale recycling in Jordan, to the implementation of experimental technologies such as the polyfloss machine. As our program in the Pacific Region kick off, we recently went to Vanuatu on an assessment to determine the scope of potential plastic projects and how we can work in this context. Vanuatu imports around 2700 tons of plastic products per year, a majority staying around Port Vila. Plastics also account for 15%

The Prime Minister of Fiji, Frank Bainimarama, recently stated they are entering a “frightening new era.” He stated, Fiji was at "an almost constant level of threat from extreme weather events." Fiji is a nation made up of over 300 islands and faces risks of many disasters such as cyclones, flooding, tsunamis, earthquakes and droughts. According to the World Risk Report, the Pacific region is amongst the most vulnerable to disasters. The threat of extreme weather has intensif

Field Ready, including engineer Abi Bush and Luke Johnson, our new Innovation Advisor in the Pacific, has been spending the past few weeks in Vanuatu looking into plastic recycling opportunities as part of the Australian Humanitarian Partnership. Vanuatu is still a developing country; thus the impact of poor waste collection is rampant. Litter has not been disposed of properly, and can be found in water sources, roads, public areas and poses environmental and public health ri

Timore-Leste was the last stop on the on-going AHP assessment. We found that it was radically different than Fiji and Vanuatu. It is one of the smallest countries in the world with one of the youngest demographics. There were very few NGO’s and private sector entities, but found that in terms of making, there were a few workshops. Woodworking was quite advanced and even found that some of the shops made their own height boards, which are often difficult to locally source. We

As part of our on-going assessment as part of the AHP, the next country we visited was Vanuatu. Vanuatu is a small nation made up of roughly 80 islands. In addition to cyclones it faces a great risk of volcano eruptions and earthquakes. While there is a private sector presence, manufacturing is less prevalent than in Fiji. The needs determined were similar to those in Fiji such as basic aid items including, buckets, shelter kits, medical supplies etc. We also determined we ca

Field Ready was recently on an assessment in the Pacific Region. We are going to be highlighting the countries we visited on the assessment for the Australian Humanitarian Partnership. The objective of the assessment was to better understand how we may respond to disasters in the region and build capacity and resilience against disasters. Fiji was the first country visited where we met with potential partners such as Habitat for Humanity. In the aftermath of Cyclone Winston i