Globally, Papua New Guinea (PNG) ranks among the top ten countries at risk of natural hazards. The increasing frequency and severity of extreme weather events are placing more human settlements at risk.
The effects of natural hazards and extreme weather conditions on local communities include the destruction of shelter and population displacement.
The International Organization for Migration (IOM) was recently able to enhance the preparedness capacity of 114 women and 112 men through trainings on participatory awareness on safe shelter construction (build back safer).
This was courtesy of funding from the United States Agency for International Development (USAID) Bureau for Humanitarian Assistance (BHA).
In partnership with the National Disaster Centre and Provincial Disaster Centres, IOM delivered the trainings to target communities in the Autonomous Region of Bougainville (AROB), Morobe, East New Britain and Western provinces.
“IOM is proud to partner with the USAID and the PNG National Disaster Centre to support the provincial administrations, Provincial Disaster Centres in building resilient communities to improve the wellbeing of communities by preparing them in advance to cushion the impact of disasters,” said Serhan Aktoprak, Chief of Mission, IOM Papua New Guinea.
“Addressing current and future challenges requires the strong commitment of all that focuses on community-driven and well-coordinated action, which is what we have observed across the latest training series as well.”
Designed on key principles of safe shelter construction, the training sought to equip participants with disaster preparedness and mitigation awareness and skills.
“This training is timely for the Garam community because we have been badly affected by the recent earthquake and most of our houses collapsed,” said George Rifi from the Garam community in Morobe Province.
“It is also an eye-opener. We live in the valley and are exposed to strong winds. We now better understand the risks to this community and will work towards addressing them by building resilient shelters.”
“This training is very informative. I realise that I did not consider safety measures when building my house and will now make an effort to reinforce them,” said another participant, Sare Dum.
The training was co-facilitated by IOM and local authorities that had been trained by IOM.
The training co-facilitator and North Fly District Disaster Coordinator in Western Province, Max Maina, encouraged the participants to educate members of their community on safe shelter construction.