Port Moresby – IOM, the UN Migration Agency, and Papua New Guinea (PNG)’s National Disaster Centre have organized a week-long workshop on mass evacuations in natural disasters.

The training aimed to improve the skills of disaster coordinators and State agencies in managing evacuations and providing relief assistance during emergencies and disasters.

Participants included provincial disaster coordinators, medical professionals and officers from the PNG Fire Service, St. John Ambulance and police. They included 28 men and five women.

The workshop was part of an ongoing collaboration between the National Disaster Centre and IOM to build emergency disaster response capacity in PNG. It included simulation exercises drawing from IOM case studies of disaster prone and affected areas throughout the country where disaster response capacity is limited.

Lessons learned from the recent fire at Hanuabada in the National Capital District Port Moresby, which destroyed 18 houses and damaged another 23 leaving 250 people homeless, were also reviewed.

“Disaster management officers and agencies of the State and organizations responsible for managing disasters play an important role in saving lives during disasters and emergencies,” said Wonesai Sithole, IOM PNG Emergency and Disaster Management Coordinator.

“If disaster officers and coordinators do not plan ahead, organize properly and coordinate mass evacuations or conduct rescue operations during disasters, it can lead to lives being lost,” he added.

Director for National Disaster Centre Martin Mose noted that provincial disaster coordinators must be proactive in their work. “Provincial disaster coordinators must plan ahead and organize well to coordinate disaster response in (their) province,” he said.

For more information, please contact Lance Bonneau at IOM Port Moresby, Tel: +675 321 3655, Email: lbonneau@iom.int