PNG disaster management under fire

11:37 am on 11 March 2015

The disaster preparedness and response from the Papua New Guinea government has been criticised again after another province was struck by the worst flooding in 20 years.

A school in West New Britain, Papua New Guinea

A school in West New Britain, Papua New Guinea Photo: AFP

Last week the National Disaster Office asked the government for more than three million US dollars to respond to floods that had affected more than 100,000 people and the Opposition accused the government of being slack and deficient.

The West New Britain Governor Sansindran Muthuvel has now appealed to the government for assistance and has to asked for a state of emergency to be declared.

Mr Muthuvel says he is frustrated at the lack of response but also at the lack of foresight.

"The same thing happened last year and also in 2013 it was really bad but this current situation it is the worst in the last 20 years and we do some quick fix method to just put some temporary log bridge and all those things and we still don't do any permanent infrastructure and then one year pass and come March we end up having the same problem."

The West New Britain Governor Sansindran Muthuvel.