By DAVID TERRY
TEN people who died of starvation in Ope in the north coast area of Oro province were buried yesterday in front of Oro Governor Suckling Tamanabae.
The governor flew to Ope in a helicopter to deliver food and water, but these supplies came too late for those who perished.
Mr Tamanabae said he watched as villagers buried the 10 people, and he feared more are likely to die within the next few days if food, water and medical supplies are not sent quickly.
The deaths raise the disaster-related death toll in the province to 163, although that figure remains unofficial.
Only two helicopters were used to distribute relief supplies from Popondetta.
Governor Tamanabae said the aircraft were critically inadequate to bring food and water to the people affected by disaster.
He warned that hundreds of lives could be lost if funds approved by the National Government are not released quickly.
Thousands of people whose homes and gardens were destroyed by flash floods are surviving on dry coconuts, banana, other edible plants and rain water.
Collin Wogeia, a teacher at Divino Kavari Primary School in Togaho area in the Higaturu LLG said 12,000 people in the area had no food and water and were digging whatever they can find in the mud and water to eat.
Businessman Dale McCarthy and a team of policemen who travelled to Musa and along the coastline last week to assess the extent of the damage, said some babies were developing symptoms of diarrhea already.
They also came across a headless torso and the body of a young boy in Eroro, believed to have been washed down from hinterlands of Pongani and Managalas.
About 130 people, displaced by the floods, have sought refuge on a logging company’s pontoon in Bareji and are using tarpaulins and containers to catch rain water to drink because the rivers are contaminated by dead animals and human beings.
Mr McCarthy’s team distributed 200 litres of outboard motor fuel to the villagers to help them use dinghies to travel to Gona for road access into Popondetta.
Most of the villagers along the coastline were using rafts and canoes to stay afloat.
Several new river deltas had formed along the coastline and most of these tributaries are running across what used to be villages along the coastline.
The coast line from Tufi to Oro Bay, Sanananda, Buna, Killerton Bakumbari, Kausada and towards the north coast are clogged with debris washed down from the inland areas.
Assistant Police Commissioner in charge of Southern Region Tony Wagambie and police medic Dr Gideon Gelesi was flown into Popondetta yesterday to help coordinate relief operations.
Meanwhile, Health authorities have warned people all over the Oro province to abstain from consuming water from wells and rivers.
They have advised people to catch rain water for drinking and cooking as all river systems in the Oro Province are contaminated with dead animals.