NDC fails to provide foresight for management of quake: Simon

By JEFFREY ELAPA
CONCERNS have been raised by Southern Highlands’ provincial administration on the failure of National Disaster Centre in providing foresight for management of the 7.5 magnitude earthquake aftermath.
Southern Highlands’ deputy administrator Pipik Kilip Simon said the province was badly affected by the earthquake.
He said many lives were lost while millions of kina worth of properties were destroyed.
Simon said the province was yet to see the presence of the NDC in providing foresight and technical advice on how the crisis should be managed.
He said secretary for Provincial Affairs Dickson Guina should check how NDC director Martin Mose and his office had helped Southern Highlands and the other three provinces affected by the earthquake.
Several phone calls and text messages to Mose were not answered.
“We are yet to see their presence,” Simon said.
“I call upon Martin Mose and your team to come to Southern Highlands and start assisting the people affected with relief and all other things.
“We have waited for far too long and have not seen your presence.”
Southern Highlands Governor William Powi is also concerned about how funds earmarked for restoration and rehabilitation had been used.
He said there was no sign of the K450 million disaster funding for Southern Highlands earmarked in the budget reaching the province.
Powi said other internal revenue for the province had not been released by Waigani.
“I don’t see any guarantee that the K450 million will be released to rebuild the infrastructure that has been destroyed and is yet to be fixed,” he said. Powi said the Western Enga Southern Highlands and Hela (WESH) Restoration Authority had not been established.
He said infrastructure at Kutubu Secondary School, Nipa High School, Mendi Secondary School, Plateau High School, various health and infrastructure facilities, and others needed to be attended to.
Nipa-Kutubu and Mendi-Munihu had been particularly hard hit.