Ramu and Bundi cut off

A MONTH since the collapse of the Pukpuk Bridge, pleas by villages for the Government to rebuild it has fallen on deaf ears, says an NGO.
An officer based with an NGO in Madang John Yoga said over 6,000 people depended solely on this road access as the primary service provider.
Affected places and communities are Lower Ramu, Brahman, Tauya, Tereni, Pendiva, Safi and Kenari and the whole of Upper Ramu including Bundi.
During his interview with the affected local communities, he discovered that the only response was from the district headquarters at Walium where officers were gathering snapshots of the collapsed Pukpuk Bridge.
Ironically no officer dared to cross the Ramu River on the canoes currently used by locals to ferry the traveling public.
The officers also use an outboard motor to travel up the Ramu River without actually walking into the disaster stricken communities to physically assess and monitor the situation.
The only person whom the community in this part of the country depend solely on is expatriate Br Max David, a long time resident of the
Brahman area who commits himself totally to the maintenance and construction of infrastructural activities especially the maintenance of the Yakumbu-Brahman road and the numerous bridges
At the time of the visit, he was organising his few workmen to repair the damaged bridge.
Meanwhile, Brahman Catholic mission agency manager Luke Ariel said there was still no sign of response from even the education department.
The only health service provided was by the Catholic agency.
Other Government agencies and even the local MPs who should be the first people to respond, are nowhere to be found.
The prolonged delay and inaction by respective Government authorities will affect the education and health services in that part of the country.
The affected bridge serves  major educational institutions namely Brahman Secondary School, Brahman Primary School, Bundi Primary School, Yandera Primary School and numerous Elementary Schools in the area.
Evidence gathered during the interview with the Bundi LLG president, John Yama reveals that there is lack of coordinated effort especially from the district administration and the Bundi local level government to effectively respond to this disastrous
situation.