Locals help themselves

 PEOPLE living in remote villages of Southern Highlands are helping to clear debris along the feeder roads affected by heavy rainfall, flooding and landslides.

Heavy rain has damaged properties worth millions of kina in the province but the worst affected districts are reported to be Kagua-Erave and the Mendi-Munihu district.

The National did not get further details of the Kagua-Erave district but had visited some parts of Mendi-Munihu district and saw people working collectively to clear the debris and build fallen bridges.

Youth leader Mathew Naki, from Mendi-Munihu, said: “We cannot expect fast relief supplies from the disaster office as it take time for proper assessment to be carried out by disaster officials.”

He said people must learn to work together and rebuild their devastated lives and later the government will step in to support us.

Naki said hundreds of people are still waiting for relief supplies to reach their villagers while dozens have fronted the provincial administration building.

“People depend too much on government to do everything for them. We need to be self-reliant so that people use their resources to initiate their own development,” he said. 

Kip Primary School headmaster Raphael Tonpi said continuous landslips, flooding and roadblocks along the highway and feeder roads have hampered service delivery and slowed down economic progress.

He said the announcement of K500,000  by Southern Highlands Governor William to be given to the affected villages in the province would help rebuild their shattered lives.

Prime Minister Peter O’Neil has announced a K5 million for relief and it is believed that the National Disaster Office is yet to receive the funds.