Reports on Central floods to be submitted

 By JUNIOR UKAHA

CENTRAL disaster coordinator Daniel Mona has announced that the final report on the flash floods that destroyed homes and food gardens in parts of the province will be submitted to the National Disaster Office (NDO) by the end of this week.

Mona said since Monday, all flooded areas have LLG and disaster officers on the ground doing assessment and reporting work and are expected to compile and submit a full report on the effects of the flood. 

“We have officers on the ground that are carrying out the assessment and verification for those who have been affected.”

He said the exercise was a government directive to clearly identify the “cause of damage, extent of damage and how much resources and help are needed to help the situation”.  

Although Mona did not disclose the number of houses destroyed by the flood or the number of casualties, he did say that the damage was substantive as it involved nearly all the five districts in the province, ranging from Kairuku-Hiri in the West to Abau in the East. 

He said the rivers that caused much destruction were Laloki, Goldie, Brown, Angabanga, Waime Kivoria, Apanaipi, Aroa Dilava and Kemp Welch rivers.   

Meanwhile, provincial health officer Timothy Mapor, who was with Mona assessing the situation, said he would compile a separate report which he would submit to his superiors so that medical teams could be sent to the affected areas. 

During a visit to Haima village near Laloki, Mapor said he was concerned the village’s water supply could be contaminated as they were using rainwater for cooking and drinking. 

Local villager and Hiri LLG Ward 14 peace mediator Korai Oragu said although the floods subsided, they could not grow any food as the ground was still muddy and their food crops had gone bad.