More than a year after the eruption of Manam volcano in Papua New Guinea, authorities say thousands of islanders will remain refugees for at least another twelve months.
Manam Volcano erupted in late October 2004, sending lavaflows towards villages and killing seven people through poisonous ash.
The island's 9,000 residents were shipped to the mainland of Madang province.
The chair of the Manam relief committee, Sir Arnold Amet, says proposals to build permanent homes for people on the mainland are on hold.
"As the duration of these camps have been longer than initially was the case, we needed to replace those tarpaulins, so Red Cross have come back in with some further funding and have been assisting in the provision of local materials for the folks to build their own traditional shelters. We are putting in some fairly permanent infrastructure such as a school and water and they're building homes that can last for two years or more, so that's about where we're stabilising our care of them."
Sir Arnold says some Manam islanders have been able to go back to their food gardens to harvest crops.
He says there's still a questionmark over the stability of the island.
Sir Arnold thanks the Red Cross and charities in Australia and New Zealand for their help.
He says there are lessons to be learnt, in seismic monitoring and refugee care, which will be useful to people helping people who've fled Mount Langila volcano in PNG, as well as other volcanoes in Melanesia.
