Sepik villagers hit by Papua New Guinea’s earthquake flooding are desperate for clean water, says local volunteer Charles Marlow

“Since the flood, the main Sepik River we have been drinking from is not safe anymore, evidence of faeces is seen floating on the water,” Marlow told the PNG Post-Courier.

“When the earthquake struck on Monday, most tanks of most houses in the Sepik River area burst.

• READ MORE: Disaster minister Joseph briefs PNG on quake and crises hitting nation
• Other PNG disaster reports

“Right now, I can say people are going hungry, food has become scarce and we no longer have access to safer water source to drink from,” Marlow said in an interview.

“I live in Pagwi area. Today I went by boat to three nearby villages and returned. I spoke to the people and did my own assessment on the situation as a volunteer.

“People are in desperate need of food and drinking water.

“They cannot harvest sago or food from the gardens, everything has been destroyed by the high tide from the main Sepik River which has covered the nearby inlands where sago and other garden produce are harvested from.

Houses collapsed
“From Pagwi, I went to Savanaut then to Yenjimangua and Naurange villages.

“In Yenjimangua seven houses collapsed and in Niaurange eight houses altogether sank into the water.

“No casualty from the earthquake was reported from those three villages but there are deaths I heard in other villages I did not visit,” he said.

East Sepik Provincial Administrator Samson Torovi said the 28 local level governments in areas affected by flood have been allocated relief funding as of yesterday.

“The LLG presidents of our 28 local level governments have resolved to use the K200,000 (about NZ$88,000) provincial support to immediately supply food stuff, canvas and relief supplies to our people,” Torovi said.

“The East Sepik Provincial Disaster Management team will draw down on its internal revenue allocation of K200,000 in this year’s budget to commence mobilisation of relief work at the provincial level.”

Phoebe Gwangilo is a PNG Post-Courier reporter. Republished with with permission.

The death toll from Cyclone Gabrielle in Aotearoa New Zealand is rising — now 9 — and many areas in Hawke’s Bay have been left as disaster zones with rescues, rather than recovery, still the focus.

Power, internet and phone service is still patchy for many people in the region making communication difficult.

Police are working to reconnect people with loved ones who have been reported missing.

• READ MORE: Cyclone Gabrielle triggers more destructive forestry ‘slash’ – NZ must change how it grows trees
• Other Cyclone Gabrielle reports
• Follow RNZ’s live news blog

Prime Minister Chris Hipkins was in Esk Valley on Friday — an area where homes were completely inundated with water.

Driving through Eskdale, the mud is thick and still water crosses the roads in places.

Debris is strewn across orchards, fields and fences. Parts of the road are washed away, there are dead animals, and cars are wedged against buildings.

A lone boat perches on the dross in a field.

Harrowing time
It was a harrowing time for Maureen Dorr who owns The Doggy Farmstay in Eskdale.

When the floodwaters hit her house, she had six dogs staying with them and three of her own.

“So John got one — a German shepherd — and put him in the laundry. We put another one in the bathroom — a rottweiler, and then we put four on the double bed, and then I held two of them above the pantry near the ceiling.

“They (the floodwaters) came right up to our neck, and then John smashed the kitchen window as the water below the windowsill was lower and let some of the water out.”

She spent 12 hours like this, because going outside was even worse.

Some of the dogs nearly drowned, but they managed to revive them.

An 82-year-old man in a ute found them on the road and asked them if they needed help.

Escaped the valley
They bundled the small dogs in a box and tied the larger dogs on the back, escaping the valley, and leaving behind a derelict home.

“There’s no way you could even get in the house for silt. The kitchen side of the house is just about gone, the wall’s just about out. The furniture’s all backed up inside it, and we had drawers coming down the hallway, leaning against the kitchen window.”

All of the dogs survived, and the six dogs staying at her kennels are with other families until they can be returned to their owners.

Dorr is staying in Bay View and said they were being well supported and her neighbours were OK — they were up to their waist in water before getting into the roof cavity and being evacuated.

She is insured, but thinking about the future is too hard right now.

Nearby, Bay View residents are banding together to check on and support those impacted in the Esk Valley.

Rowan Kyle was one of them.

‘An apocalypse basically’
“I’d call it an apocalypse basically … being local to the area, it’s just unrecognisable. There’s just cars upside down, stacked everywhere. It’s like a bomb has gone off.”

One of the new developments had been devastated, Kyle said.

“They’re filled to the brim with mud, silt. Yeah, they’ve just had it. They’re saying that there’s potential, they might just have to write them off completely.”

He did not understand why the NZ Defence Force had not been in to assist them, saying residents have been mostly left to organise, pick up the pieces, and “fudge their way through it”.

Prime Minister Hipkins was discouraging people from speculating over the death toll of Cyclone Gabrielle.

“It’s no good to anybody speculating about how many people have been injured or how many people may have died in this tragedy. We’ll certainly share that information as soon as we can.

‘Outlandish claims’
“But I’ve heard some outlandish claims out there at the moment that there is no evidence to support.”

The cyclone was the biggest natural disaster seen this century, he said.

Thirty-one thousand people in Napier, 6000 people in Hastings and 1000 people in Wairoa have been without power for four days.

Civil Defence in Hawke’s Bay said there are still thousands of people in hundreds of communities who have yet to be contacted.

Group Controller Ian Macdonald said there were too many uncontacted communities to list and they were prioritising those they suspected were worst affected by the flooding.

“There are literally tens and maybe hundreds of communities. Communities can be anything from a 1000 people in one community at the back of Rissington through to just tens of people or just a few people.”

Helicopters were delivering communication gear and emergency supplies to the worst affected communities, he said.

This article is republished under a community partnership agreement with RNZ.

Cyclone Gabrielle: Thousands uncontactable, hundreds still without water or power https://t.co/PBdQjQqtmq

— RNZ News (@rnz_news) February 17, 2023

Widespread damage has hit farms across Aotearoa New Zealand’s North Island with those in parts of Gisborne and Hawke’s Bay particularly hard hit and forestry slash is once again a huge problem.

Tolaga Bay farmer Bridget Parker told how forestry slash has caused a huge amount of damage to her farm yet again as the death toll from Cyclone Gabrielle rose to six.

“It’s enormous — there is silt all over the road. It’s so thick you can’t walk through it; there are logs as far as the eye can see,” she said.

• READ MORE: Cyclone Gabrielle: NZ death toll rises, ‘grave concerns’ for several missing
• Follow RNZ’s live blog updates

“There are so many logs all the fences are down; wherever you look it’s total carnage.”

Parker, whose farm has been destroyed by forestry slash during storms multiple times, said they can look at forecasts for rain, wind, drought and even tides but they could not predict what was going to happen when it came to the logs.

“We don’t farm logs. Their logs [the forestry companies] and their friggin’ silt needs to stay inside their friggin’ estate gates.

“It does not have the right to be spewed over the 3000ha of beautiful land that is farmed on the flats below it.”

Parker said Minister for Forestry Stuart Nash needed to visit the region within the next week to answer to farmers.

“There’s floodwaters everywhere, in our house, in our sheds. It’s far higher than last time and we are really really struggling to cope; we’re really angry.”

Hawke’s Bay area ‘smashed’
Forestry slash has also caused issues on farms in Hawke’s Bay where there was widespread flooding and slips.

Suz Bremner, who runs sheep, beef and friesian bulls along the Taihape Napier Road, said she had never seen damage like it.

“I tipped out the rain gauge this morning. It was overflowing at 170mm so we don’t know how much we’ve had.

“The power is out but from what we are hearing from people nearby is that the wider Hawke’s Bay area has just been smashed.”

Bremner said she went for a drive around her farm yesterday morning to assess the damage but roads were blocked by trees while tracks had been washed away.

“Looking at some of our neighbours who have big cliff faces on their properties the slip damage is horrendous.

“We have a road through the top end of our farm and we turned down there this morning and my husband and I could not believe our eyes. The slash that had washed down through the creeks is unreal; I’ve never seen that before.

“I think the forestry has come down and created a dam and then during the night it’s just exploded and now there’s slash everywhere,” she said.

Other farmers RNZ spoke to in Hawke’s Bay said they were hunkering down waiting for the worst of the weather to pass before getting out to assess the level of damage.

This article is republished under a community partnership agreement with RNZ.

A fourth person has been found dead as a result of New Zealand’s catastrophic floods on Friday, which have now spread to other parts of the country.

Police said in a statement that Search and Rescue, who had been looking for a person swept away by floodwaters in Waikato’s Onewhero, had found a man’s body.

Formal identification is yet to take place, but police believe it is the missing man.

• READ MORE: Auckland floods a future sign – city needs stormwater systems fit for climate change
  NZ’s first climate adaptation plan is a good start, but crucial questions about cost and timing must be answered
• With seas rising and storms surging, who will pay for New Zealand’s most vulnerable coastal properties?
• GALLERY: Massive volunteer effort in tackling Auckland’s floods
• Other Asia Pacific Report coverage of Auckland’s flooding
• Follow RNZ live news updates

The body was found by a drone operator, about one km from where he went missing.

“Police have been overwhelmed by the way the community has rallied around and gone above and beyond to assist with the search,” the statement said.

“Locals have offered their time and effort, food, and support to others around them at this extremely difficult time.”

At a media conference this afternoon, Deputy Prime Minister Carmel Sepuloni said the death of four people was “horrific”.

‘Traumatic experience’
“I think it’s been a traumatic experience … That’s the most horrific part of it that we’ve lost lives.

“Clearly alongside every Aucklander and New Zealander we share in our condolences and sadness with that person’s family.”

In previous media conferences, Auckland mayor Wayne Brown and Prime Minister Chris Hipkins had also passed on their condolences to the families of those who have died.

Earlier today, police named 34-year-old Daniel Mark Miller as another victim of the floods.

Miller was found dead in a culvert on Target Road in Wairau Valley on Friday.

“Police extend their sympathies to his family and friends.”

Another person was found dead after a landslide brought down a house on Remuera’s Shore Rd.

MOTAT volunteer
RNZ understands that the man was a beloved volunteer at Museum of Transport and Technology (MOTAT), Dave Lennard.

Friends are paying tribute to him on social media.

Stuff reports that Lennard, in his 80s, was much loved at MOTAT.

“He was one of those guys who could make anything and teach himself how to use new equipment with ease,” friend Evan James told Stuff.

A fourth person was also found dead in a flooded carpark on Link Drive, Wairau Valley at 12.30am on Saturday morning.

All deaths will be referred to the coroner, police said.

This article is republished under a community partnership agreement with RNZ.

Countdown to Chaos: As Aucklanders were desperately seeking safety, officials were silent https://t.co/9UJfoke7XQ

— RNZ News (@rnz_news) January 29, 2023

From Brisbane to Sydney, many thousands of Australians have been reliving a devastating experience they hoped — in 2021, 2020, 2017, 2015, 2013, 2012 or 2010/11 — would never happen to them again.

For some suburbs built on the flood plains of the Nepean River in western Sydney, for example, these floods are their third in two years.

Flooding is a part of life in parts of Australia. But as climate change intensifies the frequency and severity of floods, fires and other disasters, and recovery costs soar, two big questions arise.

• READ MORE: After the floods comes underinsurance: we need a better plan
• You can’t talk about disaster risk reduction without talking about inequality

As a society, should we be setting up individuals and families for ruin by allowing them to build back in areas where they can’t afford insurance? And is it fair for taxpayers to carry the huge burden of paying for future rescue and relief costs?

Considering ‘managed retreat’
Doing something about escalating disaster risks require multiple responses. One is making insurance as cheap as possible.

Another is investing in mitigation infrastructure, such as flood levees. Yet another is about making buildings more disaster-resistant.

The temporary levee in Maryborough that’s prevented much of the CBD from being inundated. Floodwaters are slowly dropping @abcnews pic.twitter.com/Vpxccl1Ej7

— Johanna Marie (@JohannaMarie_) March 1, 2022

The most controversial response is the policy of “managed retreat” — abandoning buildings in high-risk areas.

In Australia this policy has been mostly discussed as something to consider some time in the future, and mostly for coastal communities, for homes that can’t be saved from rising sea levels and storm surges.

It’s a sensitive subject because it uproots families, potentially hollows outs communities and also affects house prices — an unsettling prospect when economic security is tied to home ownership.

But managed retreat may also be better than the chaotic consequences of letting the market alone try to work out the risks to individuals and communities.

Grand Forks: a case study
The strategy is already being implemented in parts of western Europe and North America. An example from Canada is the town of Grand Forks, a community of about 4000 people 300 kilometres east of Vancouver.

The town is located where two rivers meet. In May 2018 it experienced its worst flooding in seven decades, after days of extreme rain attributed to higher than normal winter snowfall melting quickly in hotter spring temperatures.

Deforestation has been blamed for exacerbating the flood.

The flood damaged about 500 buildings in Grand Forks, with lowest-income neighbourhoods in low-lying areas the worst-affected.

In the aftermath, the local council received C$53 million from the federal and provincial governments for flood mitigation. This included work to reinforce river banks and build dikes. About a quarter of the money was allocated to acquire about 80 homes in the most flood-prone areas.

The decision to demolish these homes — about 5 percent of the town’s housing — and return the area to flood plain has been contentious.

Some residents simply didn’t want to sell. Adding to the pain was owners being paid the post-flood market value of their homes (saving the council about C$6 million). There were also long delays, with residents stuck in limbo for more than year while authorities finalised transactions.

A sensitive subject
Grand Forks shares similarities to Lismore, the epicentre of the disaster affecting northern NSW and southern Queensland.

Lismore is also built on a flood plain where two rivers meet. Floods are a regular occurrence, with the last major disaster being in 2017. Insuring properties in town’s most flood-prone areas was already unaffordable for some. In the future it may be impossible.

Last week, NSW Premier Dominic Perrottet said about 2000 of the town’s 19,000 homes would need to be demolished and rebuilt, a statement the local council general manager downplayed, saying in the majority of cases “people will not have to worry”.

For a community traumatised by loss, overwhelmed by the recovery effort and angry at the perceived tardiness of government relief efforts, discussing any form of managed retreat is naturally emotionally charged.

But there is never an ideal time to talk about bulldozing homes and relocating households.

Uprooting communities
Managed retreat has far-reaching financial ramifications. As in Grand Forks, the first questions are what homes are targeted, who pays, and how much.

Some residents may be grateful to sell up and move to safe ground. Others may not, disputing the valuation offered or being reluctant to leave at any price.

Managed retreat policies also affect many more than just those whose homes are being acquired. Demolishing a block or suburb can push down values in neighbouring areas, due to fears these homes may be next. Those households are also customers for local businesses. Their loss can potentially send a town economy into decline.

No wonder many people want no mention of managed retreat in their communities.

Pricing in climate change
Markets, however, are already starting to “price in” rising climate risks.

Insurance premiums are going up. The value of homes in high-risk areas will drop as buyers look elsewhere, particularly in the wake of increasingly frequent disasters.

The economic fallout, both for individual households and local communities, could be disastrous.

The Reserve Bank of Australia warned in September 2021 that climate-related disasters could rapidly drive house prices down, particularly in areas that have previously experienced rapid house price growth.

These disasters are also amplifying inequality, with poorer households more likely to live in high-risk locations and also to be uninsured.

In Lismore, for example, more than 80 percent of households flooded in 2017 were in the lowest 20 percent of incomes. These trends will intensify as growing climate risks translate into higher insurance premiums and lower house prices.

A deliberate strategy of managed retreat, though distressing and difficult, can help to minimise the upheaval in housing markets as climate risks become increasingly apparent.

We can do better than leaving the most socially and economically vulnerable households to live in high-risk areas, while those with enough money can move away to better, safer futures. Managed retreat can play a key role.

Dr Antonia Settle is an academic and McKenzie postdoctoral research fellow, The University of Melbourne. This article is republished from The Conversation under a Creative Commons licence. Read the original article.

Much of the Timor-Leste capital of Dili has been heavily flooded with rivers bursting their banks after three days of heavy rain over the Easter weekend, say disaster relief officials.

The floodwaters in some parts of the city have reached many metres deep with houses on the banks of the Comoro River being dragged into the raging waters, reports Lusa news agency.

The Civil Protection agency told Lusa that it was difficult to take full stock of the situation and determine the full numbers of casualties because ′′the whole city is a disaster zone”.

• READ MORE: Dozens dead as torrential rain leads to floods and landslides in Indonesia and Timor-Leste
• Hundreds mass at Dili’s exit points in bid try to flee Timorese capital

However, some reports say at least 11 people have died. The floods have come on top of a city already reeling from a serious covid-19 pandemic crisis.

Part of the oceanside Avenue de Portugal, where some embassies are located, has been seriously flooded with the waters entering the homes, including the Lusa office.

Several residents, including Portuguese citizens, have already been forced to leave their homes in spite of the difficulties of moving around Dili because of the floodwaters.

The high tide overnight and large volume of river water has raised the levels across almost the city, with civil protection teams, firefighters and government emergency services desperately spread around the city trying to help people.

Throughout the early morning residents in several parts of the city sent photos and videos to Lusa attesting to the fury of the floodwaters in some places.

An unknown number of families have lost their homes, with several areas – including the Presidential Palace compound – being flooded.

There is also concern about two places used to isolate patients suffering from covid-19 – the Vera Cruz Centre in Dili and the Tasitolu area.

Over the past few days, weather services have warned of the risk of heavy rainfall in several parts of the country, prominently on the north coast, due to the effects of a low pressure system, located on the Indonesian western part of the island of Timor.

Heavy rains had already caused problems in several municipalities in the country in recent days, with reports of destroyed homes and other infrastructure affected, including roads and bridges.

Some residents say the rainfall and situation in Dili today was significantly more serious than last year on 13 March 2020 when flooding affected tens of thousands of people in the capital.

Older residents have told Lusa they do not remember heavy flooding like this in Dili since the 1970s.