Attachments
EXECUTIVE SUMMARY
This handbook is intended to provide a baseline of understanding of how the government and people of Papua New Guinea (PNG) conduct disaster management (DM). Personnel planning for or executing a DM operation – training, exercise, or emergency response – alongside Papua New Guinean practitioners will find this resource useful for supporting engagement. This handbook delivers background on the country’s geography, society, political system, and economic status and provides a profile of the hazard landscape and vulnerabilities that prevail. It also addresses the major institutional, legal, and practical foundations of disaster response as practiced at the national and subnational levels.
Exposure and Vulnerability
Over the past 25 years, PNG has recorded upwards of 60 major hazard events that disrupted lives and livelihoods and necessitated a large-scale coordinated response. The causes of these events are dominated by natural hazards, with hydrological and geophysical events being the most common. Nonetheless, the country is exposed to biological, climatological, meteorological, and anthropogenic hazards that can bring death and destruction. By some measures, the country is the most at-risk Pacific Island country and Southeast Asia’s second most at-risk country.
A constellation of factors increases the vulnerability of the country’s 12 million residents to major hazard events. With less than 15% of the population living in urban areas, a large percentage of communities are very remote. They not only lack infrastructural connections to other communities, but they also lack infrastructure within their community. Many communities are stricken by deprivation and marginalization, and communal conflicts are numerous and complex. There are millions of Papua New Guineans who do not have the ability to build individual, household, or community resilience to disasters. When education, health care, and livelihoods are disrupted for long periods after a disaster, the disadvantages of people living in these communities are exacerbated.
Building Resilience
PNG has taken steps to address disaster risk at the national level through the National Disaster Risk Reduction Framework (2017-2030) and through international and bilateral partnerships. While these DM frameworks provide a foundation for building coping capacity, it is through sustainable socio-economic development and partnerships that the national and subnational governments are building resilience. The National Disaster Centre (NDC) is the focal point of DM activities. Nested under the national government and headed by the Department of Defence, it has close inter-agency links as well as strong cooperation with United Nations (UN) agencies and non-governmental organizations (NGO) working in the country.
UN agencies and NGOs, especially faith-based groups, are also active at the local and provincial levels. Provincial administrations have set up Provincial Disaster Centres (PDC) through which they channel information about hazards and resources to respond to disasters. At the district and local levels where relief and major response operations are executed, the district disaster offices that have been established work with NGOs and churches, and they have the ability to coordinate with the PNG Defence Force (PNGDF) and Royal PNG Constabulary (RPNGC, the police) if those forces have personnel and assets in the affected area.
The NDC is integrated into the Disaster Management Team (DMT), co-chaired by the NDC Director and the UN Resident Coordinator (UNRC) in the country. Through this mechanism, international non-government assistance can be mobilized, even as the national government can request assistance directly from bilateral partners. The most frequent responding country is Australia. They are commonly joined by civilian and military responders from Japan, New Zealand, and the United States.