Vanuatu Communities to Gain New Disaster Shelters With $12.6m ADB Grant

The $12.6 million grant marks ADB’s third financing for the Greater Port Vila Urban Resilience Project, which supports infrastructure and services that help communities prepare for and withstand disasters caused by natural hazards.

Families in three Greater Port Vila communities will gain access to new emergency shelters under additional funding approved by the Asian Development Bank, strengthening disaster preparedness in Vanuatu's economic centre. The $12.6 million grant marks ADB's third financing for the Greater Port Vila Urban Resilience Project, which supports infrastructure and services that help communities prepare for and withstand disasters caused by natural hazards.

The financing comes from the Asian Development Fund and is complemented by a $5.6 million Green Climate Fund grant through the Community Resilience Partnership Program Investment Fund, plus a $700,000 in-kind contribution from Vanuatu's government. Together, these contributions will support new facilities and better planning for emergency shelter needs, with attention to how communities use and maintain the infrastructure over time.

Three Communities Get Spaces for Safety and Daily Life

Agathis, Freshwind and Nambatri will each receive a new multipurpose emergency shelter designed to provide safe, resilient facilities for vulnerable people during disasters. The buildings will serve as community gathering spaces and markets during normal periods, giving residents places they can use regularly as well as turn to when emergencies disrupt their lives.

This combination of everyday use and emergency protection connects disaster preparedness with community needs, making the shelters useful beyond periods of crisis. Cooperation between the government and local communities will include arrangements for operating and maintaining project assets, helping keep the facilities ready to serve residents for years to come.

Planning Shelter Capacity Around People's Needs

The grants will support an emergency shelter strategy that provides for routine assessments of available capacity, identifies gaps in services and guides decisions about where future shelter investment is most needed. Understanding those gaps will help authorities plan and prioritize facilities as part of a broader approach to disaster preparedness across Greater Port Vila.

By 2031, the overall project is expected to have directly benefited at least 23,400 people, including 11,700 women, through better access to resilient urban assets and services. That target reflects the wider project's reach, covering improvements intended to strengthen protection and access to essential infrastructure across the area.

New Funding Builds on Earlier Resilience Investments

ADB began financing the project with a $9.6 million grant in 2020, followed by a $2.9 million grant in 2022, supporting expanded urban resilience planning and infrastructure investment. Earlier funding also launched nature-based coastal protection measures in Greater Port Vila, placing the new shelters within a continuing effort to address the area's exposure to natural hazards.

Jyotsana Varma, regional director of ADB's Pacific Liaison and Coordination Office, said Vanuatu faces high exposure to disasters that are becoming more frequent and severe, describing the additional financing as building on the project's existing work to provide emergency shelter. She emphasized cooperation with the government and communities to keep assets useful into the future, a priority reflected in the funding's focus on construction, planning and maintenance. The Asian Development Fund supports countries most in need as they address immediate challenges and build foundations for lasting growth.