Situation Report Number: 8 Date: 06 Feb 2016 Prepared by: Clive Philips / Bobby Dara SUMMARY INFORMATION COMMON NAME OF EMERGENCY PNG Drought September 2015 DATE 06 Feb 2016 COUNTRY PNG SCALE TBC MAIN CLASSIFICATION Natural Disaster – Drought , CAT - 02 ESTIMATED NUMBER OF PEOPLE AFFECTED Potentially 3 million to be affected. Estimate 1.9 million in the highlands. LEAD AGENCY Oxfam Australia CONTRIBUTING Oxfam Oxfam New Zealand Contact information of lead agency Esmie Sinapa –Country Director [email protected] Clive Philips – Drought Response Coordinator [email protected] Julius Giowen – Response Coordinator Highlands [email protected] PARTNERS CARE International DURATION OF RESPONSE 6 to 12 months 1.0 Key Issues / Highlights Following an offer to provide support to the Government response to flooding and landslides on 03 January affecting 1000 households in Jiwaka, a letter was received on 02 Feb 16, from the NDC acknowledging the offer and asking Oxfam to liaise with the Jiwaka PDC regarding their needs to support detailed impact assessments. Recent rainfall information indicates that whilst most the country is now receiving rain, the amount is less than normal for this time of year. Information indicates the food security situation in many provinces particularly remote areas with limited access to cash markets is worsening. Recent reports and media attention has led the Government of focus attention Western Province. Some Government relief food supplies initially destined for the Highlands has been diverted to the area. It is unclear how many Oxfam working with partners TTU, Kafe Womens, CDA, KGWAN and IRRM have now conducted Multi Sector Household Assessments in 40 communities in 3 districts (Kerowagi, Gumine and Kundiawa-Gembogl) in Simbu Province and 2 districts (Daulo and Henganofi) in Eastern Highlands Province. A comprehensive report of findings is expected by end Feb. About 4000 households (28,000 beneficiaries) have received public health and agricultural drought mitigation messages and WASH NFIs (20L jerry cans and soap) as part of the MFAT funded WASH response in the Highlands. In the most recent distribution sites in Kerowagi, Simbu Province 3 cases of SAM were identified and referred to the local health centre. Installation of additional water tanks, connections to an additional water source and a sky hydrant water filter and at Kerowagi Health Centre, Simbu Province has been completed. 1 The WASH team are now working in 8 health facility sites in Eastern Higlands and Simbu Provinces. Work ranges from the installation of new rainwater catchments, connections to Gravity Fed Systems, repairs to broken pipework and the installation of ablution blocks. The WASH team are planning to replace rainwater catchments systems destroyed by fire in Omkolai, Simbu Province as permission to extend the GFS at Omkolai/Gumine High School to the village has not been received from the school board. Drought Response Coordinator and WASH Programme manager visited East Sepik week of 18 January to commence response planning. Team are planning follow up assessment in the Wewak islands and Terebu. To be complete by mid February. As part of a joint OXFAM/CARE International DFAT HPA funded project a joint training and planning took place from 12-14 January 2016. CARE led assements and NFI distribution activities have now commenced. To date 8 cases of malnutrition have been reported by assessment teams. o Development of the syllabus for drought adaptation training has been completed. Train the Trainer training will take place in week commencing 08 Feb and the first 3 district level training courses will be delivered in the week commencing 22 Feb. 2. Security Across the country the latest UNDSS sitrep indicates that the security situation remains normal. However in Tambul- Nebilyer district of Western Highlands loacls broke into the Tambul district administration building and stole 27 Tons of relief food supplies that are understood to have been storeed there for 3 months. In the Goroka area there have been 2 recent armed holdups, one during the robbery of an expatriate house and the other during a carjacking of a car owned by a member of CARE International staff. There is no indication that the staff member was targeted deliberately due to working for an NGO. 3. General Humanitarian Situation In the most remote areas of the worst affected provinces the food security situation is acute and is likely to deteriorate further as it will be a minimum of 3 to 4 months before staple crops will be ready for harvest. A small number of severe malnutrition cases have been identified in the Highlands and Western Province. Recent rainfall has resulted in improved access to water across the country, however it has also resulted in landslips in a number of areas. This has impacted on access to many locations. WHO are currently investigating a Dengue Fever outbreak in Western Province. 4. General Political Relations / Context At the most recent DMT meeting (02 Feb) the NDC indicated that the notes of the joint Government and NGO Strategic Planning Meeting in Port Moresby on 15/16 Dec 2015 will be released soon once internal revisions had been completed. WFP are increasing their presence in the country and by the end of Feb will have 6 staff in Port Moresby. They have initiated a fortnightly logistics bulletin that seeks to share information about logistics operations across PNG. WFP continue to build their relationship with the NDC in order to support the coordination of “last mile” logistics. National Department of Health working with WHO have contracted a company in Mount Hagen to install water tanks in 22 Health facilities in 7 provinces. 5. Oxfam Operations Target for beneficiaries is 82,000 people in Simbu Province, East Sepik Province, Bougainville and Eastern Highlands Province. 2 Current Operations To date 28,000 beneficiaries in Simbu and Eastern Highlands Provinces have been reached with NFI Distribution. Autonomous Region of Bougainville (AROB) Oxfam staff continues to monitor situation in order to provide early warning of any deterioration. East Sepik Province During a information gathering visit by the Drought Response Coordinator reports were received from Provincial and District Government organisations, partner agencies, and church groups of communities badly affected by the drought in remote coastal and island communities in Wewak District. The Wewak Office Manager has been liaising with partner organisations and other organisations including Save the Children to plan assessments in the Wewak Islands, Terebu as part of the MFAT funded response in the region. NCD / Central Provinces Oxfam staff attended the latest DMT meeting which was held on 02 Feb 2016. Highlands - Eastern Highlands Province Oxfam with partners TTU and Kafe Women’s have conducted 48 multi sector household and community level assessments and have distributed NFIs (20L jerry cans and soap) to 1007 households in Daulo District (38 HHs) and Henganofi Districts (969 HHs). In partnership with Care International, Oxfam staff have run and participated in 3 day training and HPA Project Implementation planning workshop held 11 - 13 Jan. Water quality tests undertaken at sites in Henganofi District have shown that water quality before and after the recent increase in rainfall did not meet standards for human consumption and illustrate that recent rain has resulted in a decrease in quality in many locations. Follow up work is underway to identify principal sources of contamination. Technical assessments of WASH facilities at three (3) health facilities in Henganofi District have been undertaken. Technical plans have been prepared and materials ordered to enable work to commence by end Feb. Highlands - Simbu Province Oxfam with partners KGWAN and IRRM have conducted 16 multi sector household and community level assessments and have distributed NFIs (20L jerry cans and soaps) to 1137 households in Kundiawa-Gembogl District. Technical assessments of WASH facilities have been completed at Gumine Health Centre, Chauve Health Centre and Gembogl Health Centre. Plans for improvements to existing water systems are underdevelopment. Oxfam with partner CDA have conducted multi sector household and community level assessments and have distributed NFIs (20L jerry cans and soaps) to approximately 1000 households in Gumine District. Oxfam with partner Kup Women for Peace conducted multi sector household and community level assessments and have distributed NFIs (20L jerry cans and soaps) to approximately 800 households in Kerowagi District. Installation of 9000L water tanks at Kundiawa hospital in order to increase storage capacity is underway. Installation of new water storage and filtration systems at Kerowagi Health Centre is complete. Final tests of the system will occur week commencing 08 Feb alongside training of maintenance staff. Plans to extend the Gravity Fed system at Omkolai High School to households in surrounding communities have been put on hold as the school board has not given permission to use their source. Plans have been drawn up and materials procured to enable rainwater catchments to be installed instead. Repairs funded by Oxfam to the Kundiawa Hospital water tanker are underway. Completion of the work is being delayed by delays in receipt of the last remaining part. 3 6. Future Plans Autonomous Region of Bougainville (AROB) Continue monitoring of the situation to provide early warning of any deteriorations.