Relief supplies stuck in Vanimo

By CLIFFORD FAIPARIK
ABOUT K25,000 worth of relief supplies donated by Indonesians in Sentani for the February 2018 earthquake victims in Papua New Guinea (PNG) are rotting away at the Vanimo Airport – all because no one was aware of the donation.
The supplies, comprising 80 20kg rice bags, noodles, biscuits and an assortment of sundries, were brought from Papua for the victims in Western, Gulf, Southern Highlands, Hela and Enga.
The Feb 26, 2018, 7.5 magnitude earthquake affected about 40,000 Papua New Guineans.
Jayapura PNG Consul-General Geoffrey Wiri yesterday expressed concern that the Government did not provide similar aid to Indonesian flood victims.
“The Indonesians contributed about K1.6 million to the relief fund for the quake victims,” he added.
“The MAGA Foundation in Sentani also donated 2.5 tonnes (about K25,000 worth) in relief supplies in May 2018.
“The supplies are now rotting away in West Sepik’s Catholic Mission Aviation hanger.
“On March 16, devastating flash floods hit Sentani, claiming more than 100 lives and displacing thousands of people.
“Officials from the West Sepik disaster office, accompanied by the PNG Consulate staff, visited the disaster areas but there was no response from the PNG Governments and the consulate decided to donate relief supplies to affected villagers on Friday.”
Wiri said his office had bought relief supplies worth about K2,500 comprising 20 10kg bags of rice, 30kg of sugar, 48 boxes of tea, 120 packets of noodles, 48 packets of milk, cooking oil, 20 cartons of bottled water, 24 coffee packets and 10 cartons of biscuits.
Meanwhile, Emergency Controller for the earthquake affected provinces Dr Bill Hamblin said he was not aware of the supplies in Vanimo.
“No one advised (or notified) my office on the supplies,” he said.
“We received US$500,000 (K1.69mil) in donation from the Indonesian government towards the earthquake relief fund.
“And these supplies (in Vanimo) are obviously something done locally.
“We specifically indicated that we did not want goods or clothes as the cost of transport far outweighs the cost of purchase in Mount Hagen, Mendi or Tari.
“But we will follow up with the delivery and check if the supplies are still fit for consumption.”