Disaster office awaits reports

By HELEN TARAWA
THE National Disaster Centre (NDC) is yet to receive reports from the Morobe, Gulf and Western areas affected by floods and king tides, director Martin Mose says.
Mose told The National that all provinces had disaster offices and officers were expected to furnish reports to NDC.
“There should not be any excuses as all provinces have disaster offices, except for Jiwaka and Hela, which are yet to set theirs up,” Mose said.
“I just learnt about the disaster in Morobe through the newspapers and I’m yet to hear about the situation in Gulf and Western.”
Morobe disaster and emergency coordinator Charlie Masange confirmed that continuous rain in the province caused floods that swept away homes, vehicles and damaged roads in the Huon Gulf and Bulolo districts. Mose said NDC was anticipating that Masange would submit a report on the situation so that they could make submissions for funding assistance.
He said the procedure was that once there was disaster in any given area, the provincial officer was tasked to carry out an assessment of the situation and provide a report to NDC.
Based on that report, Mose and his team would make a submission to the Finance and Treasury departments for funding to be released.
“Our area of assistance for those affected by the disaster is in the provision of food, shelter and water,” Mose said.
“We do not handle infrastructure such as damaged bridges — that is the responsibility of other government agencies.”
He said in the case of Morobe, NDC was informed that Masange had mobilised a rapid assessment team to inspect the affected areas.
Mose said they would be expecting a report soon to be able to proceed.
As for Gulf and Western, the director said he was not aware of the situation except having learned of it through the media, however, he would be getting in touch with the provincial police commanders and disaster offices of the respective provinces.