Disaster centre strict on disaster relief requests

THE NATIONAL Disaster Centre (NDC) will not entertain provincial requests for urgent disaster relief funds unless thorough assessment reports are submitted.
NDC acting director Martin Mose said it was prepared to release the K200,000 it announced last week for Oro province but the province had yet to submit the report.
Mr Mose was commenting on the appeal of the Oro provincial disaster authority yesterday for immediate release of funds for Ijivitari and Sohe flood victims “I am expecting the final situation report from Oro today.
“In the past two weeks, NDC had been getting inconsistent figures from Oro.
“Its initial relief submission requested for K600,000.
“The chairman of NDC Manasape Zurenuoc and I discussed the matter and finally agreed to allocate K200,000 more than a week ago,” Mr Mose told The National yesterday.
Two weeks ago Oro acting provincial administrator Owen Awaita said while NDC had allocated K200,000 for relief efforts, the province needed an extra K50,000 for distribution of food supplies.
Mr Mose clarified that NDC would only provide K200,000 from which K50,000 would be used to distribute the K150,000 worth of food.
“K200,000 is a lot of money and would go a long way.
“We are now strict in responding to relief submissions,” he said.
The Oro provincial disaster office yesterday reported widespread continuous flooding.
NDC has yet to receive the confirmed number of flood victims and the number of villages hit by floods since last month.
The National Weather Service on Monday also warned of the widespread floods affecting river bank communities nationwide.