WABAG – Australia’s Foreign Affairs Minister Julie Bishop has announced a $9 million aid package for the Pacific while touring areas affected by severe drought in Papua New Guinea.

Bishop visited Wapemananda in Enga Province in the Papua New Guinea highlands on Sunday, one of the areas more severely affected by the El Niño-induced drought.

The PNG government estimates that nearly a million people, mostly in the Highlands, are in states of stress as result of the drought’s impact.

Bishop said it was important to see the impact first-hand and assess the damage.

“I want to hear from those on ground, the NGOs, the local communities, about the impact and then assess what Australia would be able to do to help,” she said.

Of the pledged funding, $5 million will be given to specific programmes in Papua New Guinea, mainly for technical and logistical support.

Around $500,000 will go towards seeds for drought-resistant crops, money for church groups, drought mapping and help coordinating relief logistics.

The other $4 million will be given to charities in the wider Pacific region helping communities affected by the drought.

“I know there’s been some rain recently but obviously there will be longer-term impacts and I want to see for myself the effects of the drought and make an assessment as to what Australia can do,” Bishop said.

People in some drought-affected areas have strongly criticised the PNG government’s relief efforts.

But the government has announced new funding and –given Australia’s contribution – may start to accept more international help.

In Vanuatu, local subsistence crops of fruit and vegetables have withered in the dry conditions. Many islanders are surviving on government supplies of tinned fish and rice.

Robert Vocor, a hospital medical superintendent, said the situation is dire.

“We have a lot of patients around here, especially kids and children, who have the problem with nutrition and we have a lot of malnutrition cases,” said Vocor.

On the island of Tanna, villager Anauda Johnson said his crops have been destroyed.

“Everything was destroyed during the cyclone and now with the drought, there’s nothing left in the garden,” said Johnson.

International aid agencies continue to supply food, drinking water and basic shelter.

But officials say the drought across Vanuatu shows no sign of easing.

The November regional advisory on the potential for drought in the Pacific confirms much of the region will get less than normal rainfall over the next three months.

Papua New Guinea and Vanuatu, which have been experiencing well below normal rainfall since the middle of the year, can expect below normal rain through to the end of January.

Parts of Fiji, Tonga and New Caledonia have been in drought for up to six months and below normal rain is likely to continue for the next three months.

It is also expected to be dry until the end of January in Solomon Islands, Samoa and the southern Cook Islands.

- ABC/PNC