O’Neill: PNG to give Fiji K5.5m

 PRIME Minister Peter O’Neill says Papua New Guinea will this week provide K5.5 million to Fiji for the recovery effort following Cyclone Winston last week.

The funding is intended for relief supplies – shelter, food and medicine – for people affected by the serious tropical storm.

“We hope this funding will make a difference for many people who have lost family members, have lost their houses, lost their possessions and lost their sources of food,” O’Neill said.

“The National Executive Council made the decision last Thursday to make the allocation that we know is badly needed.

“Dozens of people are known to have been killed and many more injured.

“Tens of thousands are homeless and businesses have been destroyed.

“In the Pacific, we pull together when disaster strikes and this cyclone is no exception.

“There is still an enormous amount of cleanup required around the country.”

O’Neill said the magnitude of the tropical storm was another example of the extreme weather that the region will have to be prepared to deal with in future.

“Our weather patterns are changing, and climate change is making weather events more extreme,” he said.

“We saw the devastation caused by Cyclone Pam last year and other extreme weather events in our country and around the region.

O’Neill advised that the disaster relief funding would be paid directly to the Fijian government for immediate use.