Earthquake in PNG

IT is a frustrating sight to witness our bureaucracy and politicians waking up from their long-inherited slumber – where it’s obvious they never thought such an earthquake would happen.
What a big shame on their collective intelligence and wisdom when we are living right on and next to the ‘Ring of Fire’, which defines areas on conflicting movements of tectonic plates and prone to volcanoes and earthquakes.
Or if they thought it would have happened, what measures did they develop to counter its effects?
There is no way man and civilisation can stop natural disasters from happening.
Turning back the pages to one of our worst times, the biggest tsunami that destroyed Aitape and killed more than 2000 people, looks like some Greek mythology in some old book that happened thousands of years back.
At least that’s how it looks from how our politicians and bureaucrats have been reacting.
It’s not the people that are to be blamed.
It’s the leaders and the bureaucracy that are responsible for making sure that such tragedies because of natural disasters are carefully studied.
Appropriate measures should taken in advance in terms of preparation to minimise its effects if it ever occurs again.
Prior to the earthquake, nobody talked about the possibility of such natural disasters, despite the fact that we are located on and near the Ring of Fire’
No earthquake drills were carried out in schools or communities where locals should be taught how to respond during such times, or where to build their houses given the dangers of such an earthquake like the one of Feb 26.
It is now acceptable practice that you can build wherever you please, as long as you bribe physical planning officers to give you the necessary approval. Most contractors are doing that and getting away with it.
If there is an audit on most State infrastructure in towns and cities, you would be surprised that many civil infrastructures do not meet compliance standards.
Surprisingly, or rather foolishly, the emergency Parliament session was a display of little children sobering up from their long sleep and trying to shift blame.
If that was not enough, some even displayed their incompetence by struggling with scientific articles which they understand very little or none, like the North Fly MP.
Fortunately, we had a prime minister who single-handedly took over and played dual roles of bureaucrat and politician.
He did not waste time and got down to make sure all line agencies responsible were brought in with speed, resources and capacity to attend to the disaster.
Even quick relief aid response from investors, Australian government and international communities showed their respect for PNG and the O’Neill Government.
Being a MP, minister or head of government agencies is a fulltime public service job.
It requires you to work tirelessly, especially in PNG where we have many socio-economic issues to address and improve people’s welfare and well-being. So if you are occupying a responsible public office, you need to work hard like your prime minister, who has the highest work rate in his service to the country since he took office.
This country needs hard, dedicated and honest people who want the best for their people.
God bless PNG

Samson Wena
Kerowagi
Chimbu