PNG’s tinder-dry Central Province and NCD struggle under El Niño

Papua New Guinea’s Central Province is feeling the brunt of prolonged drought caused by the El Niño weather phase.

Central and the National Capital District which is located within it, is extremely dry, its communities struggling with damaged crops and water sources in short supply.

Port Moresby communities meanwhile have been experiencing frequent water outages due to malfunctioning of the city’s water infrastructure.

• READ MORE: Other El Niño and the Pacific reports

There has also been at least one bad bout of frost, which has worsened the crop damage.

The ongoing weather disruptions have prompted the Central Province government to conduct an assessment of the scale of the province’s food and water security problems.

The National Disaster Centre warned months ago that the El Niño phase could increasingly impact many parts of the country, and other regions such as the Highlands and Western province have been suffering for months.

Fires common sight
Now much of PNG’s central region is tinder dry, and fires are a common sight in the arid hills around the capital

And further into Central Province, many water sources have dried up, forcing closures of schools.

The Central Governor Ruffina Peter said the provincial executive has allocated 5.3 million kina (NZ$2 million) to respond to the drought and help communities.

But she indicated that 40 million kina would be needed to begin to respond in full.