MP calls for fair distribution of relief supplies

Relief supplies from government and various donors must be fairly distributed between the provinces affected by the recent 7.5 magnitude earthquake, says North Fly MP James Donald.

Donald says the supplies must be coordinated properly so that men, women and children affected are assisted adequately and fairly to recover and rebuild their lives.

“There are thousands of people being affected. They’ve lost their homes, infrastructure and food gardens,” states the MP.

“In Western, worst affected are those in Mougulu and Nomad in Nomad LLG where at least 3,000 people have been affected.

“Some villages in Olsobip LLG (North Fly) were also affected with destructions mainly to their food gardens and few homes are yet to be assisted,” Donald said.   

“We don’t want to see unfair distribution of relief supplies into one province or district for that matter but a fair distribution across those four affected provinces, namely Enga, Hela, Southern Highlands and Western.”

Donald said Western, for instance, was yet to receive any form of assistance from the Government, especially the worst affected regions of Nomad and Mougulu near the border of Southern Highlands Province.

Donald, who visited the two areas last week, said he had managed to airlift a total of K205,000 worth of relief supplies via 10x MAF charters into Mougulu and Nomad respectively. The charters alone cost K73,000.

He added that defence and police should be given the lead responsibility to coordinate disaster relief efforts so that remote places such as Nomad and Mougulu could be given assistance quickly and on time.

Meantime, the local MP also called on the government to allocate at least a quarter or K12.5 million of Ok Tedi’s K50 million donation, to earthquake affected communities in Western.

(Western Province affected locals - Picture credit: Larry Franklin)

Author: 
Press release