Highlands Region Earthquake - Papua New Guinea
Image credit: CARE Australia.
Papua New Guinea (PNG) has some of the most isolated communities in the world. In February 2018, the country’s remote highlands region was struck by a 7.5 magnitude earthquake, leading to loss of life, injury and severe damage to towns and villages. More than 544,000 people were impacted with approximately 270,000 in need of assistance. Australia provided immediate support in the form of relief supplies and the mobilisation of the Australian Defence Force to assist in the transportation and delivery of humanitarian supplies.
The AHP Response
In March 2018, Australia announced a further AUD 3 million in assistance through the Australian Humanitarian Partnership (AHP) to help affected communities re-establish their livelihoods, repair and rebuild infrastructure and restore water and sanitation services. The AHP activities had a specific focus on the needs of women, girls and people with disabilities. CARE Australia and the Church Agency Network – Disaster Operations (CAN DO) implemented the AHP response between March 2018 and August 2019, supporting the immediate relief and recovery needs of more than 83,000 people, of which 55 percent were women and girls and 13 percent were people with disabilities.
CARE worked across 44 villages in four remote areas of Western and Hela provinces, while CAN DO responded through four church organisations (Caritas, the United Church, ADRA and ELCPNG) across 40 villages and satellite settlements in Hela and the Southern Highlands.
Response Highlights
Image credit: CARE Australia
CARE trained 27 community health workers from 15 health posts, enabling improved health care for an estimated population of more than 31,000. The health workers were trained in maternal child health and nutrition, safe drinking water sources and storage, good sanitation practices and personal, family and community hygiene. As a direct result of the training, the community health workers launched handwashing and water source protection awareness campaigns in their communities.
CARE helped restore livelihoods by supporting home and community gardens and distributing WASH, shelter and family household kits to 1,052 earthquake-affected families. The shelter kits enabled greater safety and protection through distribution of solar lights and materials for toilet doors. Monitoring showed improved food security with more than 80% of households utilising seeds and new farming techniques to establish home and community gardens.
Through the CAN DO project, five trauma counselling training sessions were held for more than 200 trainers who were then able to provide psychosocial support to their respective church communities and villages. A real-time evaluation of the training reinforced the relevance of this role for church actors, with participants highlighting that church partners were the only ones to reach out to their communities immediately after the earthquake.
CAN DO’s community-led WASH activities included the installation of water tanks and provided almost 52,000 people across 40 remote villages with improved access to safe drinking water. A total of 128 community toilets were constructed in education and health facilities. These activities provided the opportunity to engage local church partners in dialogue around gender equality and social inclusion issues, including the importance of better addressing the needs of women and people with disabilities.