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Highlands earthquake response (PNG)

A year has passed since a magnitude 7.5 earthquake struck the Highlands of Papua New Guinea, killing at least 100 people and displacing 18,000 from their homes. The impacts were massive, with over half a million people in the affected area and more than 270,000 people needing emergency assistance.

Immediately following the earthquake, UnitingWorld supported our partners the United Church of Papua New Guinea (UCPNG) to conduct rapid impact assessments. Our partners had been trained prior to the earthquake so were among the first to assess the needs of many affected communities. Thanks to supporter donations, we were able to help UCPNG distribute emergency supplies, including water containers, hygiene supplies and temporary shelter kits to over 1,200 vulnerable households in 12 communities across Yaken and Lai Valley in the Southern Highlands.

Recording household names to map relief distributions

Our partners completed a second round of assessments and collated it with information from other churches. They found that the primary needs had shifted to recovery and rebuilding. UnitingWorld supported UCPNG to develop a joint recovery and rebuilding plan with other churches, for which we were able to help them access funds – including private donations and grants from the Australian and New Zealand governments.

UCPNG water tank installation using recycled car chassis for elevation!

UCPNG has since been distributing and installing 91 water tanks and 28 latrines, as well as fixing water catchments and roofs across communities in the Southern Highlands. Together with other churches, they are installing a total of 329 tanks and 175 latrines throughout the Southern Highlands and Hela Province. They are designed to service whole communities in order to reach the greatest number of people.

Community members test out a new water tank installed by our partners

The earthquake has had a significant psychological impact on many people and exacerbated local conflicts, particularly in Hela province. We have been working with UCPNG to run counselling and conflict resolution workshops in the affected area. Our latest Update newsletter shared an inspiring story from one of the workshops and Stephen Robinson recently blogged about his time in the Highlands training ministers in disaster chaplaincy.

Church leaders participating in counselling and conflict resolution workshops

Responding to this disaster has been especially complicated, given the scale and remoteness of impacted communities. Our Disaster Disaster Relief Coordinator David Brice was in Mendi and Hela provinces last month visiting some of the affected areas. He says many people are still feeling the effects of it even now.

We are continuing to work with our partners in helping communities recover from the disaster and will post updates on our website here.

Thank you for supporting the people of Papua New Guinea after the earthquake. Funds raised were crucial in the early emergency response and enabled our partners to leverage their rapid assessment work to access further government funding.

Want to make your support go even further?

We have launched an appeal to help our partners be better prepared to respond to disasters.

The key to saving lives in a disaster is preparedness, and we want to help vulnerable communities be disaster ready. Find out more.


Every $1 invested into disaster preparation can save as much as $15 in the aftermath of a tragedy

Donate now

Kina Somare* is wanted throughout the Highlands of Papua New Guinea on numerous counts of violence. Leader of a well-known gang that frequently clashes with others in the region, his face is both known and feared. So when he walks into a peace workshop one still afternoon in October, amidst the rubble of Hela Province’s worst earthquake since 1922, everyone in the church stands very still. 

Somare walks out a changed man. He speaks with local police. He wants to become an ambassador for peace personally and to influence other young people to bring healing to the community. His transformation is staggering.

“The Bishop of the United Church in PNG (UCPNG), who was taking part that day, found Somare’s presence particularly unnerving,” says UCPNG Disaster Office Project Manager Stella Vika. 

“He’d been held up by this man at knife point not so long ago. They met, reconciled and Somare gave his life to Christ. Our partners up in Hela Province are really blown away by this story. To have someone of such notoriety undergo such a change is incredibly encouraging.

UCPNG leaders at the Mendi Counselling and Peacebuilding workshop

The United Church of Papua New Guinea, in partnership with UnitingWorld, has been running peace workshops and counselling for people impacted by the recent earthquake. Like other aid agencies, UnitingWorld was on hand with sanitation kits and practical items, but the long-term work of helping people recover emotionally and psychologically is incredibly important.

“Disasters frequently damage infrastructure and livelihoods but they can also increase vulnerability and conflict,” says David Brice, Disaster Relief Coordinator with UnitingWorld.

“Giving people access to counselling and the tools to navigate conflict has a significant impact on how quickly these communities can heal and recover.”

It’s one of the unique ways your donations go further with UnitingWorld. Your support doesn’t just address the practical problems of clean water and repaired roofing – it builds people’s resilience to tackle issues that accelerate after disaster. And men like Somare are changed in the process. Given the skills not just to rebuild their homes but their lives, they embrace the opportunity to bring change. 

HELP US BE DISASTER READY.

Every dollar donated before disaster strikes doesn’t just save countless lives – it saves significant amounts of money. Every $1 invested into building better homes, preparing evacuation plans and protecting communities can save as much as $15 in the aftermath of a tragedy. Please, if you’re able, add to our disaster-ready fund.

Click here to donate now.

*Name changed to protect identity

At 3:44am on 26 February 2018, Papua New Guinea experienced a 7.5 magnitude earthquake, with its epicentre in the Southern Highlands.  The initial quake and landslips resulted in 160 deaths and many more injuries.  In the days and weeks that followed, severe aftershocks and landslides caused many more deaths. 

The quake caused widespread destruction of property and infrastructure; including roads, houses, rupturing of tanks and pollution of fresh water from underground oil and gas leaking into streams from below. The human cost was immeasurable. Along with the loss of housing, shelter, water and food supplies, people were deeply shaken emotionally.  Aftershocks left people afraid to sleep in what was left of their homes and communities. Already facing poverty and lack of resources, in the aftermath of the massive earthquake social fragmentation and tensions quickly reached boiling point.

Even today, the Papua New Guinea highlands are very remote. After a plane flight from Port Moresby to Mount Hagen, it took nearly three hours by four-wheel drive on heavily damaged roads tracking through rainforests, mountains and villages to reach the township of Mendi.  On arriving there I was given a tour of the town.  It is a beautiful place with lush, tropical growth, surrounded by banana plantations and you can see mountain tops hidden in mist.  Even so, signs of the earthquake were clear. 

Dark stripes on mountainsides showed where the earth had slipped. Houses were sitting squat and bent on the ground where their piers had collapsed and the local hospital still had walls missing.  There were signs of human-caused damage as well.  I was shown where the police station and courthouse had been razed by arson and where a passenger plane was destroyed; all this during riots in the town that had followed the earthquake.

Mendi was a fitting venue for UnitingWorld to organise joint training courses for pastors from the Highland provinces, where the church is at the forefront of social integration and care.  Following the earthquake, churches worked alongside government and not-for-profit agencies to help cater for basic needs and continue to be the prime provider of psychosocial support and mediation in conflicts.

The earthquake struck while I was working with UnitingWorld supporting our partners in Tonga following Cyclone Gita.  For some time, access was too restricted, and priority was given to basic human and social needs across Papua New Guinea.  It took months of logistical challenges (including access, funding and people involved) to bring everything together for the workshop in September. This turned out to be good timing, as any earlier it would have been difficult for primary pastoral carers and leaders to get away from the needs of their people.

 

 

The workshop was attended by over 25 participants, with the week divided into two segments: disaster recovery and trauma counselling, followed by sessions on peacebuilding.

The Disaster Recovery and Trauma Counselling was facilitated by myself and Lua Alu, a counsellor who works throughout Papua New Guinea and specialises in counselling on stress, conflict and sexual violence.  I was able to bring a framework to the workshop with input on disaster dynamics, trauma, critical incidents and debriefing.

The second part of the week focused on peacebuilding and was led by the United Church in Papua New Guinea (UCPNG) team, an extraordinarily gifted group of people with extensive first-hand experience in negotiating warring groups to lay down their weapons, find forgiveness and extend peace.

These two elements melded seamlessly, with the first giving an understanding of post-traumatic reactions, symptoms and care, and the second giving a platform on practical ways to move forward in reconciliation. 

The workshops were a time of great refreshment for all involved.  They provided an opportunity for pastors to come away from situations of ongoing stress in the provision of pastoral care and share with brothers and sisters in Christ; being equipped and affirmed, ready to return to the difficult ongoing work of supporting their people.

I came away blessed by the kindness, hospitality and warmth shown by our local partners to a stranger from Australia.  I learned a great deal as I taught and shared with these dedicated people.  As I prepared to leave, many urged us to thank the people of UnitingWorld and the Uniting Church in Australia for this time, and to ask the church to remember them, recognising that – even now – they continue to face enormous challenges in caring for communities still fragile from the impact of the earthquake.

 

Rev. Dr. Stephen Robinson
National Disaster Recovery Officer
Uniting Church in Australia

 

You can support the work of UnitingWorld and our local partners, helping communities be better prepared for disasters, saving lives and providing critical care in the aftermath. Click here to make a tax-deductible donation today.

 

UnitingWorld acknowledges the support of the New Zealand Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Trade.