Transcript
SEKIE AGISA: You're looking at some two, three, four kilometres walking distance to get water. but out in the rural areas we are not actually updated with our weather information, so they are actually affected right now.
JOHNNY BLADES: Can you estimate how many people may be affected by th drought?
SA: There's about twenty to twenty-five thousand that are affected. It's not only our people inland. Some coastal villages totally depend on water, most of them have to look around, further inside, to the streams to get their water. Two months ago I actually experienced it myself. Two to three months ago, walking a kilometre to bathe. It's very severe. And we are not really experiencing much rain but showers from which people are trying to collect water. It startd two weeks ago. But it's not so much that we can collect enough water. It's just enough for a day.
JB: So it's just a little bit of respite, but the main problem is there, after months of drought basically?
SA: Yeah that's right. The main problem is still there. But the Weather Service's predictions are that by March it should come back to normal. But looking at this January an February, that's another time that we have to be really cautious about it.
JB: There will be some villages who will be really struggling for food and water, I suppose. Do you have any help for the government?
SA: I am allocated just four hundred-thousand (kina) from my DSIP (District Service Impreovement Fund) which part of it will be going to it. Another five hundred thousand came from the provincial government. But nothing actually from the national government. We are just having our meetings now to actually declare it as a disaster, so we will be passing on the information to the National Disaster office. So then we can start having help from the National Disaster (office). From the district and provincial (administrations) we are just giving a little bit, trying ot sustain our people there.
JB: So that money that you mentioned, some money form your DSIP, and some from the provincial government, will some of that be used to help communities in need of food and water?
SA: Yeah that is true, that we will... my South Fly district administration will be doing that with help from the provincial government, so they're going to be issuing some food rations and water, that's very important.
Sekie Agisa says provincial and district authorities are discussing the drought, and will submit a report on the situation to the National Disaster Centre, hoping that a disaster can be declared.
