The Marshallese concept of preparedness and readiness—pāpjeḷṃae—has taken on renewed importance as Micronesia faces the second super typhoon of the 2026 season. While communities across the region continue recovering from recent disasters, forecasters warn that additional powerful storms are likely before the year is over. As governments, local leaders, and community organizations prepare for what could be an active remainder of the typhoon season, Chikin Melele examines how the Marshall Islands and the Federated States of Micronesia are investing in long-term climate resilience and disaster preparedness.

According to the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA), the remainder of the 2026 western North Pacific typhoon season is expected to bring above-normal tropical cyclone activity across the Federated States of Micronesia, the Republic of the Marshall Islands, Guam, and the Commonwealth of the Northern Mariana Islands.

For the Marianas alone, NOAA forecasts four to seven named tropical cyclones, including three to five typhoons and two to three major typhoons (Category 3–5) before the season ends. While meteorologists cannot predict exactly where storms will strike, the outlook suggests that Super Typhoon Bavi is unlikely to be the last significant storm affecting Micronesia this year.

NOAA attributes much of the increased activity to the developing El Niño, which shifts tropical cyclone formation farther east across the Pacific. Storms that develop farther east spend more time over exceptionally warm ocean waters, giving them greater opportunity to strengthen before reaching island communities throughout Micronesia.

Planning Before Disaster Strikes

The active 2026 typhoon season also highlights the importance of work that began years earlier. In 2025, the Republic of the Marshall Islands officially launched its first National Adaptation Plan (NAP), a long-term strategy for helping communities prepare for the growing impacts of climate change and increasingly severe weather.. Developed under the leadership of the Government of the Republic of the Marshall Islands with support from the Green Climate Fund (GCF) and the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP), the plan was officially launched in 2025 following several years of consultation with government agencies, local governments, community organizations, traditional leaders, and international partners. Last year, the plan was also featured during regional climate resilience conferences in Majuro and translated to help make its recommendations more accessible to Marshallese communities.

The National Adaptation Plan serves as the Marshall Islands’ long-term strategy for adapting to climate change while strengthening resilience to disasters. Rather than focusing only on emergency response after disasters occur, the plan emphasizes preparing communities before disasters strike through investments in resilient infrastructure, improved emergency communications, stronger early warning systems, water security, climate-informed development, resilient health and education services, and locally led adaptation planning. Throughout the plan, community leadership and traditional knowledge are recognized as essential components of successful climate adaptation.

While the National Adaptation Plan establishes the Marshall Islands’ long-term climate resilience strategy, community disaster plans translate many of those priorities into local preparedness efforts tailored to individual atolls and communities. The plan encourages collaboration among national agencies, local governments, traditional leaders, churches, schools, and community organizations to strengthen resilience before disasters occur.

Community Planning Across Micronesia

Similar efforts are underway throughout the Federated States of Micronesia.

Over the past several years, FSM has expanded community-based disaster risk management programs that combine scientific forecasting with local leadership and traditional knowledge. Communities have developed hazard maps, evacuation plans, emergency communication networks, and local disaster committees designed to strengthen preparedness before storms arrive.

Many of these initiatives have been supported through partnerships with the International Organization for Migration (IOM), the Secretariat of the Pacific Regional Environment Programme (SPREP), the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP), USAID, and other regional organizations.

The approach reflects a growing recognition across Micronesia that resilience begins within communities themselves.

Lessons from Recent Disasters

Following the June fire in Monkubok Weto on Ebeye, emergency response brought together local leaders, churches, volunteers, government agencies, and U.S. Army Garrison–Kwajalein to support displaced families. Earlier this week, emergency responders from the Marshall Islands Marine Resources Authority safely rescued the crew of the MV Meram after fire forced them to abandon ship between Namu and Kwajalein.

In the Mariana Islands, communities recovering from Super Typhoon Sinlaku once again opened shelters and activated emergency plans as Super Typhoon Bavi approached. Although each emergency differed, all demonstrated the importance of strong relationships among government agencies, local leaders, churches, nonprofit organizations, and community volunteers.

Preparing for an Uncertain Future

Scientists continue to study how climate change is influencing tropical cyclones. While no individual storm can be attributed solely to climate change, warmer ocean temperatures increase the likelihood that storms will undergo rapid intensification before reaching land. Combined with El Niño conditions that shift storm development farther east over warm Pacific waters, these conditions can increase the potential for stronger storms to affect island communities.

For low-lying island nations across Micronesia, disaster preparedness increasingly means preparing not only for the next emergency but for a future in which severe weather events may become more frequent, more intense, and recovery periods shorter.

As NOAA forecasts an active remainder of the 2026 typhoon season, the Marshall Islands’ National Adaptation Plan and similar resilience initiatives across Micronesia provide a roadmap for helping communities prepare before the next emergency arrives. Whether the threat comes from a super typhoon, coastal flooding, wildfire, drought, or disruptions to essential infrastructure, the common goal is the same: stronger communities that can respond, recover, and adapt together.