Over 800 Manam evacuees face food woes

By NAOMI WASE
MORE than 800 people from Manam in Madang who had evacuated the island recently are facing food shortage at their care centre.
Manam leader Paul Maburau said they were at the Potsdam Care Centre for almost a month and food had become a major problem.
“The provincial disaster office gave each family a bail of rice, 5kg of flour and 2-litres oil when we first came here,” he told The National.
He said that food finished and
they did not have another way of obtaining more.
Maburau said he got two 200-litre containers of petrol from the provincial disaster office and used one to get food from the island on a dinghy but that was l not enough.
Maburau said the government brought them to the mainland and forgot about them.
“There are no proper communication and arrangements between us and the Madang provincial government,” he said.
Maburau said some people were starting to leave the care centre and return to the island because of food shortage and other problems.
“Many people at the Potsdam Care Centre are also getting sick and the nearest health centre doesn’t have medical supply,” he said.
“We are confused about whether we are going back to the island or continue to live here.”
Maburau appealed to the government to provide a piece of land to them for gardening.