Disaster office plans communications system

The East New Britain Provincial disaster office will embark on a programme to establish communications systems in disaster-prone areas.
The plan is to work towards that goal with the help of the National Disaster Centre (NDC), the Climate Change Development Authority (CCDA) and the National Maritime Safety Authority (NMSA).
A one-day meeting was held at the Kokopo Fire Station on Friday to discuss how communications systems may be established to help people living on small atolls.
Local Level Government (LLG) managers, provincial administration officials, representatives of the National Information and Communications Technology Authority (Nicta) and telecommunications company Digicel were at the meeting. ENB disaster coordinator Donald Tokunai said ENB was one of five provinces that NMSA, CCDA and NDC help with information on the emergency communications system.
The other four provinces are Milne Bay, Manus, Morobe and Autonomous Region of Bougainville (Arob).
Tokunai said the project would be piloted on Duke of York Island, in ENB.
He said communities on Duke of York Island were vulnerable to disaster and climate-associated risks.
He said findings from the meeting would help decide the kind of emergency communications system needed on Duke of York Island.
Meanwhile, a ward councillor on Manus Island has called on people in coastal villages and atolls to take extra care when going out to sea.
Selarn Kaluwin, the ward councillor of M’Buke Island in the Pobuma LLG, said that M’Buke and coastal Manus were experiencing rough seas with huge waves.
Island big waves are hitting the coastline of Manus especially on the North and West Coast areas.
“As a councillor and environmentalist I am warning my good people to take extra care.”