Natural disasters

The assistance comes in response to the catastrophic magnitude 6.9 earthquake that rocked East Sepik on March 24, 2024, compounding the challenges faced by communities already reeling from ongoing floods across the region.

The calamity, triggered by heavy rains on Saturday night, engulfed a significant stretch of road in the Wapenamanda Central Constituency on Easter Sunday, burying it under 30-40 meters of earth.

The Limanada community in Ward 24, comprising about 500 people, woke to find their gardens washed away and the road impassable due to the landslide originating from the mountainous terrain.

On commenting on the recent flood efforts undertaken by the Papua LNG Project launched on November 2, together with Gulf Provincial authorities and the project’s partners, Jerry Hape, Coordinator for the Gulf Disaster Office says the province faces many challenges.

“We don’t respond immediately in time of flood and rain because we cannot go through the river system because there will be logs, and rubbish, debris flowing down the river, so we wait until the flood stops.”

He says, because of these, they depend on ward councillors to send them updates and pictures.

Acting Director of the National Disaster Centre (NDC), Lusete Mana made the call last Friday at the closing of a weeklong provincial disaster coordinators conference in Port Moresby.

He said two key issues raised in the recent and most conferences are financial and manpower constraints. 

Mr Mana said the two same issues are always raised during conferences however, solutions must be found to address these issues.

“The challenge is on us to send situation reports and keep in constant communication with our provincial administrators.

As the world moves beyond the half-way mark toward the internationally declared deadline to achieve the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), the road leading to that 2030 destination seems increasingly out of reach, if not completely out of sight.

We all know the world is well off-track to meet those 17 universally agreed goals. From ending hunger and malnutrition in all their forms, to reversing or at least taming global warming to no more than 1.5 C, to ending poverty and inequality – we, as a human race, are failing. Badly.

“Human and economic losses from disasters cannot continue at current levels if we are going to progress with the Sustainable Development Goals,” the Deputy Secretary-General said at the opening on Wednesday evening.

Held every two years since the 2004 Indian Ocean tsunami to discuss disaster reduction, the 2017 Global Platform – the fifth such event to date – is bringing together some 6,000 Heads of State, policy makers, disaster risk managers, civil society and other participants.

Disaster is now and must be attended to now, says Central Province Governor, Kila Haoda.

According to him, people wait for months before relief arrives.

“This is a very serious issue…we need to change, we need a better system.

“We must have funds parked on the side all the time for natural disasters so when it strikes, we can quickly attend to it now rather than later (months later).”

Many schools in the New Guinea Islands Region particularly in East New Britain, New Ireland and West New Britain are at risk of earthquakes and tsunamis.

Schools in the Highlands Region are at risk of landslides therefore it is vital that children are prepared and know what to do when faced with a natural disaster.

Shichigo Elementary School in Sendai City, Japan is undergoing a pilot curriculum for disaster preparedness, prevention and safety.

Natural disasters include cyclones, flash floods, strong winds and El Nino.

Finland Pacific (FINPAC) project manager Christina Leala Gale said weather services need to improve on dealing with the media in order to effectively get their weather forecasts out to the communities. 

The FINPAC project is coordinated by the Secretariat of the Pacific Regional Environment Program (SPREP) on behalf of Pacific Island countries.