Papua New Guinea (PNG), like the other pacific nations, is expecting the potential devastation of a “Super El Nino” developing in the pacific, but the provinces that stand to be impacted by it have not yet received any funding for response activities.

This was revealed in parliament today by the Minister for Disaster and Emergency, Dr. Billy Joseph when making a full response to questions from the Oro Governor Gerry Juffa on PNG’s preparedness for the looming drought season.

The minister mentioned that the National Government has not allocated specific funding for El Nino preparedness and response activities to the provinces under El Nino watch. These provinces are Eastern Highland, Western Highlands, Southern Highlands, Jiwaka, Simbu, Enga, and Hela provinces. Basically, all the highlands region provinces are under the El Nino watch.

El Nino is an irregularly occurring and complex series of climatic changes affecting the equatorial Pacific region and beyond every few years. The effects include reversal of wind patterns across the Pacific, drought in Australasia, and unseasonal heavy rain in South America.

Nevertheless, the minister said the government stands ready to assist going forward despite funding issues, as it will still make the necessity available.

“The government remains committed to working collaboratively with all stakeholders to ensure that appropriate preparedness, mitigation, and response measures are implemented to safeguard the lives and livelihoods of our people,” said Minister Joseph.

The government will conduct monitoring and assessments of potential impacted communities in the El Nino watch provinces, to come up with a proper plan to effectively coordinate with partners and stakeholders when the weather condition hits.

This will be conducted by the established National El Nino Southern Oscillation (ENSO) Taskforce under the direction of the Chief Secretary to the Government and overseen by the National Security Authority.

The taskforce comprises of officers from different agencies including the National Disaster Center, the National Weather Service of PNG, Department of Agriculture and Livestock, National Department of Health, Department of Provincial and Local Level Government Affairs, Defence and other stakeholders.

So far, the minister said technical assessment teams have been deployed already to the provinces that are under El Nino watch, where they will focus on risk monitoring, assessments, awareness and interagency coordination.

The reports from their activities will help the government prepare well and effectively respond when disaster hits.