Solomons flood victims must help themselves

Transcript

Repatriated flood victims in the Solomon Islands are being told it is their own responsibility to rebuild their homes.

The state of disaster was lifted from Honiara and the Guadalcanal province this week following flash floods in April that killed 22 people and left thousands homeless.

About eight-hundred people are still to be repatriated from evacuation centres with some evacuees criticising the process for not offering enough support to relocated victims.  

The chair of the National Disaster Office, Melchior Mataki, told Daniela Maoate-Cox the Government is providing sufficient relocation support and people need to take responsibility for themselves.

MELCHIOR MATAKI: We face a lot of challenges as well especially in relation to the different perspectives on what the expectations are on what the Government can provide for them and also the expectations from the Government side on how we think the people who have been evacuated can be best assisted. I think that process is not a very straight forward process but I think it's been successful because we have managed to move out more than 90 per cent of the inital 10,000 plus people who have been staying in the 24 evacuation centres.

DANIELA MAOATE-COX: Can you tell me more about the places where people are being repatriated to, what condition are they in?

MM: Well most of those people that have been repatriated so far are back in their home provinces whereby they are picking up life from there.

DM-C: Is there suitable housing and infrastructure in the areas they're being repatriated to?

MM: That is the responsibility of the evacuees you know we have to meet somewhere in the middle of it all. The Government can not really provide all the necessary requirements that one would have had prior to the disaster, it is a bit too much to ask for, we have to take responsibility for ourselves as well and a lot of our people who have been affected have been doing that and this is also what we are asking our people who are still in the evacuation centres to make this very fine consideration of what the Government can offer and where they should really be taking up responsibility as well to ensure that they get back on their feet.

DM-C: So what level of support is the Government offering?

MM: Well the Government has been supporting them to live in these evacuation centres for the past three to four months, feeding them and also we provide them with a couple of kits. One is a livelihood kit, as well as a household kit and of course some shelter kits which basically consists of some roofing iron and a few tools and some building materials. If one thinks that they will be given all that is needed for them to restart their lives, I think that is very impossible for the Government to provide all for somebody to get to where they left. I must also say here that we also have a lot of opportunists who have been using the situation to also demand from the Government and we have been working closely with the leaders of the evacuees to ensure that we really minimise people who are just wanting to draw assistance when they are not really affected by the floods.

Melchior Mataki says a recovery action plan is currently being drafted and is expected to be complete in August.