Give floods the attention they need

RECENTLY, there has been news reports of flooding around the country.
Flooding is classified as a natural disaster and there are supposed to be monitoring systems available that sends out early warnings.
Unfortunately, PNG does not have that.
It is not that we do not have any; we did but these are no longer operational because of funding issues.
According to reports from the Conservation and Environment Protection Authority (Cepa), there used to be a network of flood monitoring systems installed and functioning throughout the country in the ’80s but that came to a halt in 1995 after the Government pulled out its financial support.
Back then, there were hydrological installations all around the country.
There were about 106 stream dating systems (that collects data from rivers) and 84 rainfall dating systems which are now sitting idle.
The void is being covered by the National Weather Service (NWS) which uses its rainfall network to collect data and disseminate information throughout the country.
However, data collected by the NWS is only for rainfall and does do not indicate changes or levels in the streams and rivers.
Cepa reported that when rain falls, there is no monitoring system in place to indicate its volume and that is why we cannot assess flooding in the country.
It is time to reinstall that systems. The Government must come in with funding as well as support from donor agencies.
The good news is that a similar system has been set up at the Bumbu River in Lae.
The system is currently on trial with the help of New Zealand’s National Institute of Water and Atmospheric Research (Niwa) to monitor and make recommendations for adjustments before it can be installed in other provinces.
UNDP had identified some high-risk areas in the country and were carrying out awareness and workshops to the assist the provincial disaster management committee in those provinces.
East Sepik was rated as high risk by the UNDP because it is prone to natural disasters, including floods, droughts, earthquakes, tsunami, landslide and epidemic.
UNDP has indicated to support its support for such government initiatives to ensure people are better prepared to respond to natural disaster.
And the lack of data for weather forecasting is costing the Government millions of kina in infrastructure.
The Government has invested heavily in building roads and bridges but it lacks the data to plan for such events like rains and floods.
There is no sound planning in the country when it comes to building such important infrastructures.
Focus should now be on reinstalling these systems so we would be able to plan such important projects according to the data so our roads and bridges don’t get washed away.
Climate change is causing drought and continuous rain, therefore experts need to know exactly the driving forces behind all these.
Data needs to be collected and studied so we can plan according to nature.
The only way forward now is for the Government to reinstall the hydrological systems for future planning and also to collect information to warn of possible disasters.