The eastern parts of New Ireland Province were recently hit hard by high surges of King tides around mid January this year and has caused massive destructions to villages along the coastline. New Ireland Provincial Disaster Manager Mr Terence Taisa confirmed this, stating that this is the 3rd biggest disaster to hit New Ireland Province in recent years. Mr Taisa said due to Climate change effects, Island provinces have been the most affected and New Ireland province was hit with drought, typhoon and now king tides and it is very sad because there is basically no disaster plan in place for New Ireland to deal with such natural disasters. Locals have lost their homes, gardens, classrooms, roads and almost everything is under water, and this is a very difficult time for the people of East Coast, especially Namatanai and Kavieng Districts because everyone was not prepared for this disaster. Mr Taisa told PNG HAUSBUNG that a Disaster Committee was appointed to carry out assessment on the destruction and to provide report to the Provincial Administrator (PA) this week, however a meeting with the PA this week did not eventuate because the PA was caught up in other business and did not sit down with the Disaster Committee. “Based on the summary of the reports the members got on ground we can assess and deliberate on what actions to take however this could not take place because our PA was busy with other provincial affairs.” “If the meeting with the PA eventuated, I was looking at bringing up Development budget for disaster including the structure and disaster plan but sadly it turned out to be otherwise.” Taisa added that since independence New Ireland Provincial Disaster Office has never had a Disaster emergency plan in place that works online with the National Disaster Risk Framework so basically there is no direction when disaster strikes. He further stated that the Provincial Government has not step in to help with the cover for relief supplies and disaster assessment work and as left all the work to the District Level to help in this matter. As per the media report from the New Ireland Government News, New Ireland Governor Julius Chan stated that the Provincial Government is not in a financially capable position after it’s Provincial Budget was cut by the former treasurer by K40 million. Governor Chan added that with New Ireland having two senior Ministers they should be the first point of call when these types of disasters strike, because They know very well his government has been stripped off of K40 Million that would have helped to assist in times like this. Since 2021 a total of K124 million in royalties has been paid directly to the District Development Authorities of the two Districts and that is K49 million each and with no major impact projects on the ground including no financial reports sent to the Provincial Executive Council from the DDA’s two districts. With the royalties the two MP’s have access to, they need to have proper development policies in place to contribute meaningfully to the wellbeing of all New Irelanders. Right now, the Kavieng Redcross Branch Volunteers including other local volunteers are donating relief items to people affected by the king tides, like canvases, cooking and eating utensils, water containers, towels, blankets, ropes and spades and other basic necessities to help them get back on their feet.