Page 6 - IB April 2018

WE SAY

“I’ve not seen so much devastation from any natural event. There are substantial

landslides, there are lots of polluted rivers,” Peter Botten – Oil Search PNG

THE death toll At the local level
from the 7.7 magni- in Hela and South-
tude earthquake in e r n H i g h l a n d s
Papua New Guinea provinces, seven
may never be truly communities have
clear. been identified as
Estimates show the worst affected -
that up to 17,000 North Koroba, South
people lost their Koroba, Yahapuga
homes and 150,000 Rural, Koma rural,
were in urgent need Hulia Rural, Nipa
of emergency sup- Rural and Lake Ku-
plies – food, water, tubu Rural.
shelter, clothing and In these areas,
medicine. there has been wide-
Because of the re- spread damage to in-
moteness of some of frastructure includ-
PNG’s rural commu- ing airfields, bridges
nities and the lack of and access roads.
helicopters to access these areas, it may be some months before Landslides caused by recent heavy rains and aftershocks
there is a true picture of the damage. slowed down access to affected communities.
The government of Prime Minister Peter O’Neill has pulled out Eventually the PNG Government will need to move from relief
all stops in an effort to ensure that those affected by the earth- to recovery mode and deploy assets to see that infrastructure is
quake receive assistance as soon as possible. repaired.
In this regard the authorities cannot be faulted. Already the relief effort has been hampered by the withdrawal
There have been cases where disaster relief supplies have been of Australian and New Zealand military assets from the disaster
delayed due to the lack of road or air transport, the inaccessibility area.
of communities or even bureaucratic bungling. That will no doubt lead to an increase in the current gaps in
This is an issue in even the most developed countries and the reaching hard-to-reach and remote communities living in loca-
PNG Civil Service with Non-Government Organisations and the tions mainly accessible by helicopter.
private sector have worked against the odds to see an equitable We must ask whether there is a role in PNG at this time for a
distribution of relief supplies. regional assistance group which can help with disaster relief work.
As usual the Pacific’s biggest and oldest neighbours – Australia Such assistance would allow local authorities to focus their
and New Zealand – reacted immediately and generously with efforts on the restoration of major infrastructure.
millions of dollars’ worth of relief supplies including medical kits. Countries like Fiji with an oversized military could surely deploy
More importantly they provided helicopters and aircraft with engineers to help with the rebuilding effort and troops to provide
Short Take Off and Landing capability (STOL) which immediately labour to support their local counterparts in ration distribution.
opened access to rural airstrips and remote landing sites. The PNG disaster also points to the need for a stabilisation
Without these aircraft the earthquake may have claimed many force of Pacific police and military officers to provide assistance
more lives. during times of civil unrest.
The Adventist Church used its network of light aircraft, rural The presence of Pacific islanders is often more acceptable –
airstrips and community workers to take supplies into villages or even palatable – than that of Australian and New Zealand
and settlements which desperately needed help. advisers. Often our people are more accepting of their regional
And the oil companies put their commercial helicopter fleets into law enforcement cousins than the perceived outsiders from the
the service of the community delivering food, water, medicine and metropolitan countries.
shelter while also evacuating those in dire need of medical help. In terms of the relief effort, Pacific countries may not have the
The PNG relief effort – while by no means perfect – showed material resources to assist but they would be able to help in
how important a multi-sectoral approach is in order to effectively other meaningful ways and these must be explored.
implement disaster relief programmes. We commend the PNG private sector for the work it has done
A disaster of this scale has probably not been seen in PNG’s and encourage companies and corporations in the Pacific to react
history. In the words of Oil Search PNG executive Peter Botten: quickly and meaningfully in times of disaster.
“I’ve not seen so much devastation from any natural event. There Whatever contributions they can make – big or small – will be
are substantial landslides, there are lots of polluted rivers.” accepted with gratitude by the victims.
The United Nations International Children’s Emergency Fund Assistance to those in need is a corporate responsibility for
(UNICEF) estimated that 26,000 Papua New Guineans required those who make money off the community and its resources.
assistance, half of that number being children. In total some It is also a moral responsibility for all who live in a community
544,000 were estimated to have been affected by the quake. to help the less fortunate.

6 Islands Business, April 2018