PCRAFI AIR Brochure: Tonga

In this country risk profile, Tonga’s earthquake and tropical cyclone risk profiles are derived from an estimation of the direct losses to buildings, infrastructure assets and major crops that are caused by all the simulated potential future events. The direct losses include the cost of repairing or replacing the damaged assets, but do not include other losses such as contents losses, business interruption losses and losses to primary industries other than agriculture. The direct losses for tropical cyclones are caused by wind and flooding due to rain and storm surge, while losses for earthquakes are caused by ground shaking and tsunami inundation. After assessing the cost of repairing or rebuilding the damaged assets due to the impact of all the simulated potential future events, it is possible to estimate in a probabilistic sense the severity of losses for future catastrophes. Tonga is expected to incur, on average, 15.5 million USD per year in losses due to earthquakes and tropical cyclones. In the next 50 years, Tonga has a 50 percent chance of experiencing a loss exceeding 175 million USD and casualties larger than 440 people, and a 10 percent chance of experiencing a loss exceeding 430 million USD and casualties larger than 1,700 people. The risk information can help identify existing vulnerable areas and communities located in or adjacent to these areas. It also can assist in supporting more targeted intervention in community-based disaster risk management and climate change adaptation actions. In the occurrence of a natural disaster the database also provides extremely useful baseline data and information for conducting timely and effective post-disaster damage assessments.