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Rabaul plans relocation By ELIZABETH VUVU CONTINUOUS ash-fall from Mt Tavurvur in Rabaul is of great concern and is being closely monitored with likely plans to move people out of the town. The East New Britain disaster and emergency committee held an urgent meeting last Friday and requested the Rabaul district administration to closely monitor the ash-fall situation and report back to the committee to determine whether a decision should be made to relocate people. This will include a follow-up of the situation on Matupit island and other nearby villages, including the town area. Chairman of the disaster committee Akuila Tubal has instructed district administrator Graham Potol and his officers to closely monitor the ash and dust from Mt Tavurvur. The committee has already received a set of recommendations from the Rabaul district as options should there be an emergency declared in town. These include the request to fast track stage four land developments at Sikut resettlement to cater for the Matupit people. Other recommendations include water containers for Matupit people, hiring of water trucks to cart water to the people affected by the dust, ban on the sale of cooked food at the Rabaul town market, the temporarily closure of schools within affected areas, purchase of new air conditioning machines and new water supply equipment for Nonga Base Hospital. While the Rabaul area is experiencing heavy ash-fall, moves are already underway in scaling down operations at Nonga, and closing Maltech High School, Sacred Heart International School and Matupit Community School. A state of emergency will be considered after the committee recieves latest reports on the situation from government staff, Mr Tubal said. Meanwhile, the Rabaul volcano observatory has been reporting pale gray ash fall blowing towards Rabaul. Its continuous nature has led to 3-4cm or more of ash build-up in east Rabaul, with 1-2cm in the western end. The observatory said this activity is expected to continue as in the last few months. Manus gears up for events By VERONICA MANUK MANUS will host two national events towards the end of this month and in early June. The National Executive Council (NEC) meeting will be held on May 28-29 and the governors’ conference on June 2-3. Administrator Wep Kanawi said the people of Manus were happy and would take the time to give a gift to Prime Minister Sir Michael Somare for his 40 years in politics. The people also hope that the NEC team led by the PM would take time to see for themselves the road condition of the province, schools and health facilities and the effect climate change is having on the outer islands and lowlands. Preparations are well underway for the events. |
| Weekly News |
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| When the heavens opened up last week, these children from Kokopau on the northern tip of Bougainville welcomed the downpour with open arms and happily splashed away with no second thoughts. They were delighted to have water in their tanks and made use of every raindrop at their seaside home along the Buka Passage. – Nationalpic by ALOYSIUS LAUKAI |
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