People taking advantage of disaster warned

SOME organisations and people have seen the earthquake as a money-making opportunity by producing claims and compensation – some ridiculously high – says emergency controller Bill Hamlin.
“This is not a time to try to get rich, it is a time to assist fellow Papua New Guineans,” he said.
Hamlin said it was a sad reflection on people with the intention to make money out of others’ misery.
“There are lots of claims that have come in. I have referred those back to Supplies and other departments and asked for clarifications and I have rejected some of them outright,” he said.
Hamlin said he had rejected claims of people demanding ridiculous amounts of compensation for trees and land.
“While I am in change of this operation we will not be wasting money.”
Hamlin said the Disaster Restoration Emergency Office had done payments for legitimate contractors while many claims were rejected and some were being investigated.
He warned organisations supplying relief goods to make sure their had contracts or else they would not be paid.
“We are maintaining a strict control over payments and if they were not approved by my office they will not be paid.”
He said the claims were unnecessary distraction for his team as many areas affected by the Feb 26 earthquake and aftershocks were yet to be reached.
He said they were looking at logistics to see how to reach some remote areas. The team had problems with limited helicopter service but their priorities were to provide food and water for the 26 care centres set up by the United Nations.
He said K5 million was spent on food and water supply so far while K1.3 million was spent on hiring helicopters to transport supplies.
While different organisations providing help, it was confusing which areas were not covered and the UN had sent a logistic team to work on that.