Madang flood areas to get relief supplies

 By MOUA OMOA

RELIEF supplies should reach flood-stricken areas in Madang by the end of the week, National Disaster Office coordinator Martin Mose said yesterday.

He said they had been waiting for the Madang provincial government to give a detailed report on the state of the disaster.

“We received a not so detailed report last Thursday, however I have decided to make a move to send a recommendation to our chairman so funds can be released because people are suffering at the moment,” he said.

Mose said his office had sent a team to the affected areas to assess the situation and give a detailed report.

“At this time there are no exact figures on the number of people affected by the floods as it wasn’t highlighted in the report given by the Madang provincial government,” he said.

Mose said he submitted the recommendation on an estimated figure of about 10,000 people affected by the flooding and was hoping that relief supplies worth more than K100,000 would be distributed by the end of the week.

He also advised all provincial governments to quickly submit detailed reports of natural disasters in their provinces for relief funding support.

Mose said the National Disaster Office would not respond efficiently if provincial governments failed to quickly submit detailed reports.

He added that provincial disaster offices came under provincial governments however they functioned under the policy guidelines of the National Disaster Office.