drought

Relief food supplies reach Manam care centers

Madang Provincial acting director for disaster Rudolph Mongallee said "1011 bales of rice, floor and cooking oil starting today will be delivered to Mangem Care Centre

Henganofi district to receive relief food supplies

Open member and Police Minister Robert Atiyafa and is team of volunteers will distribute supplies worth K1 million.

Each house hold is expected to receive a 20kg rice bag, 10kg flour bag, two bottles of 1liter oil, and some tinned fish.

Drought affected Manus to get help soon

According to Mr Knight Mr Meauri  will be visiting hard hit areas of Manus like the Baluan, Pak and Rambutso islands.

Knight says Meauri will also bring  relief funds.

He says after their visit to various islands they will return to Lorengau for the first meeting of the District Development Authority.

 Knight made arrangements with local businesses houses in Lorengau town for relief supplies however he is still waiting the Provincial administrator approval.

The Administrator is understood to be out of the province at this time.

Drought parched New Irelanders wait for help

Those people affected by the drought in the New Ireland Province have not yet received any response to their requests for water containers.

Disaster Coordinator Michael Lamusang says he sent the province's first assessment report and a submission for relief supplies on August 18th however to date no response had been made. 

He says people have been suffering from a shortage of water and people walk as far as two kilometres to find water.

Lamusang has just sent the second assessment report to the National Disaster Office.

Latest on drought situation in Bougainville

According to the Bougainville disaster office director Franklyn Lacey the much predicted El Nino will be far worse than that of 1997   because it will be hotter at about 2 degrees Celsius above average.

 “My warning to the people now is to start taking preventive measures and take stock of the situation. Start using whatever water is left wisely. Due to the drought now, food has become very scarce and there is no vegetable at all now in the markets,’’ he said.

Eastern Highlanders suffering from El Nino: growers leader

Solepa Thomas Arganisafa, the secretary of the Eastern Highlands Agricultural Society, said food gardens are wilting under the scorching sun and the water sources drying up.

“Livelihoods of the many villagers in the Asaro Valley and other parts of the Eastern Highlands are at stake.”

Arganifa challenged the provincial and national disaster committees to assess the situation and  help the simple villagers.

Central schools scale down operation following drought

76 elementary schools and 39 primary schools are greatly affected by the shortage of water.

From an assessment carried out by school inspector Ken Soeu last week, most of the water tanks are empty and water wells contaminated due to the low water levels.

Soeu said 99 percent of the schools rely on water wells so they have been asked to scale down operations to save the remaining little water source for  the upcoming grade eight exams.

He advised schools to allow grade 7 and grade 8 students to remain in class and teachers to be on official duty.

PNG Loop's 5 @ 5

Food supplies run low in Kiunga

http://www.looppng.com/content/food-supplies-run-low-kiunga

Food supplies in Kiunga in the Western Province are running low as the drought continues to hit hard.

World Bank warns of ballooning budget deficit

http://www.looppng.com/content/world-bank-warns-ballooning-budget-deficit

Experts predict continuing dry for much of the Pacific

This comes after up to six months of well below normal rainfall had been received.

The forecast from New Zealand's NIWA and the Pacific Islands Meteorological Services says in Papua New Guinea and Vanuatu, after three months of very dry conditions, below normal rainfall can be expected through to the end of the year.

And it says New Caledonia can expect the below drier condition of recent months to continue through October to December.

It says countries in the central Pacific, such as Tuvalu and Kiribati, can expect little water stress in the next few months.

UN urges Pacific governments to prepare for El Nino impact

The UN resident coordinator in Fiji, Osnat Lubrani, says it is expected to rival the 1997 El Nino which is the most severe on record.

Ms Lubrani says drought problems currently being experienced around parts of the region are just the beginning.

She says governments need to start raising awareness in communities and preparing national emergency plans.