Aust. aid for flood-hit P.N.G.

Press, 30 September 1983, Page 6

Aust. aid for flood-hit P.N.G.

NZPA Sydney Royal Australian Air Force aircraft yesterday airlifted another 30 tonnes of emergency supplies and equipment to flood-stricken Papua New Guinea with a sixth and probably final mercy flight planned for today. The Hercules transports were again loaded with tents, water purification equipment, and tablets, clothing, blankets, and electrical generation plants to replace items lost in raging floodwaters around Lae, the country’s second city. At last report at least 28 people had died in the flooding which has isolated Lae and cut the key Highlands Highway. It has been declared a national disaster.

An Australian Army sapper squad is in the city running the emergency generating and water purification plants. Three Hercules were dispatched from Richmond for the 3300 km flight to Lae on Wednesday. Yesterday two Hercules made the direct six hours and a half flight. In Sydney, the Papua New Guinea Consulate widened its appeal for clothing, cooking pots, and tents to a request for cash. The consulate’s first secretary, Mr John Hunter, said that at least 20,000 people were homeless and that that figure and the death toll would probably rise when isolated outstations and villages were contacted.

“We need money because village food gardens have been washed away and pigs and other stock droffiied,” he said. •«<