Counting the cost of our ignorance

 IN counting the costs of repairing or rebuilding after the destruction wrought by strong winds, heavy rains and flooding in the past few weeks, there are a few lessons to be learnt as well.

And that has to do not only with the country’s pre­paredness to face and mitigate impacts of natural and man-made disasters.  

Government agencies and other concerned institutions or businesses must now re-think how important assets needed for growth and well-being such as roads, bridges and wharves are constructed to stand the test of time and changes in weather patterns. 

Nature as a habit of testing the integrity of man’s engineering and building expertise as has been demonstrated well in the present weather conditions throughout the country. All regions of the country have reported damage done to roads and bridges during the heavy rain recently. Some may take a few days to repair, while work on others will go on a little longer.

As indicated in comments attributed to the man at the helm of the state’s building enterprises, structures of the past decades have been ‘found wanting’.

While on a tour of West New Britain and witnessing the extent of damage done to roads and bridges there, Works Minister Francis Awesa made statements to the effect that the kind of engineering techniques and building materials used in infrastructure like roads and bridges then are no longer reliable anymore to stand the ravages by weather conditions today.

Clearly, planners, engineers and builders responsible for the infrastructure destroyed or rendered unusable, had not foreseen the destructive forces of nature, which are testing the integrity of those structures today.

It is time for a rethink on the part of present day engineers and designers of these vital assets of national growth. Costs of the damage done to vital roads and bridges, among other vital infrastructure, are figured in the millions of kina already.  Additionally, relief assistance to affected communities would raise the overall costs higher. 

Climate change and deforestation have been attributed for the extreme weather conditions and the impact on the environment and people’s lives.

A local forester pointed out during a meeting last week that where naturally growing forests have been cleared for commercial cropping such oil palm plantations, widespread flooding cannot be prevented. This is the case in West New Britain where the hardest hit areas were oil palm plantations and settlements. That is the unfortunate price of large scale agriculture development and forest clearance. 

Thankfully, the response from the National Government as other agencies has been prompt to relieve the plight of people and businesses.

In order to restore transport services for a return to normalcy in people’s livelihoods and the operations of business, some quick solutions such as constructing temporary log bridges would be have to be put in place.

However, over time and with the availability of resources, more durable bridges and roads will have to be built to withstand the forces of nature. That must be a necessary part of planning for future improvements to existing infrastructure not only in West New Britain but throughout the country.   

There will be no room for quick fix patchwork.  Builders can get away with sub-standard work for millions of kina but nature will uncover their faulty workmanship soon enough. 

One other important point to be from the recent disasters is the response by communities. 

As much as large scale agriculture development is to be blamed for erosion and flooding such as in West New Britain, subsistence slash and burn gardening is a major contributor to climate change, resulting in adverse weather conditions that affect communities which are ill-prepared. Similarly, population growth does has an impact on the environment as more land is cleared to feed more people.

This is something people must understand and take responsibility for. Where state authorities can humanly help, every effort must be made to bring relief to those affected. Beyond that, people have to live with a respect for nature and their immediate environment, which is their best insurance policy for now.