Geographical location the reason for disasters

THE disasters facing Morobe and its surroundings will continue to happen as a result of PNG’s geographical location.
Torrential rains experienced all year round is brought by the south-easterly trade winds as PNG sits within the Inter-tropical Convergence Zone (ICZ – a zone close to the equator about 30 degrees off the equator to the north and south).
Because Morobe is located on the eastern coastlines of PNG with its high mountain ranges (Finisterre, Herzog and Sarawaged) play a key role in the leeway/windward slope configurations resulting in the amount of rain experienced with Morobe alone as compared to its sister states within the Momase region.
In addition, Morobe sits on the Ramu-Markham Fault Zone (RMFZ).
A fault in geology is defined as a natural break in the earth’s crust due geological plate tectonics. In fact, the entire Ramu-Markham valley is a geo-depression caused by this major fault zone
The RMFZ continues through the Solomon Sea and forms the East New Britain (oceanic) Trench.
The volcanism and tectonics experienced by both the New Britain and MP is but a function of movements along the RMFZ.
To add to the mix, Lae through to the hills of water-rise and to southern flanks of the Ramu mountains sits on a very young geological unit (rock type) called Leron Formation (LF).
LF is a derivative of weathered volcanics and intrusive of the Finisterre Ranges during formation and has not gone through the process of lithification (compaction and cementation) to form a consolidated conglomerate unit.
In fact, it is highly susceptible to erosion and given the amount of rainfall that Lae and MP experiences, you can imagine the wash out this will cause.
Other issues in building engineering come to mind such as liquefaction.
I once did a geohazard presentation as a whistle blower to the Provincial Disaster Coordinator and the Provincial Planner in 2015 and proposed for a geohazard mapping programme to be conducted in-house to gather vital information so plans and mitigation factors can be put in place to minimise what was recently experienced.
Drainage maps need to done, landslip prone areas, erosion and sedimentation rates should be mapped out and data collected, high risk zones to be mapped out not to mention flooding, etc with bill-boards erected showing escape routes and or mitigation plans clearly spelt out with proper awareness conducted in nearby villages and communities of the impacts to expect so they can plan their livelihood factored by knowing what to expect.
I hope this idea and vision (geohazard mapping) will still be looked into so that we can put controls in place to minimise and or avoid having to react to situations, we should be pro-active and not reactive.
Millions of kina will still be spent until we really understand the dynamics of PNG geology.

Geologist, Via email