PORT MORESBY – The United Nations and other international bodies are being asked to step up their assistance as the impact of frosts and a severe drought continue to impact on large areas of Papua New Guinea.

The El Nino influenced drought is forecast to continue into 2016.

Several Pacific nations are already in the grip of disabling droughts with many communities running out of water.

The United Nations’ Development Programme’s Country Director in PNG, Roy Trivedy, says his and other international agencies have been asked to step up the help they are already providing in Papua New Guinea.

He says UN agencies are already helping farmers in various capacities and will be working on other issues such as food security for the estimated 848,000 people the government says are already in a state of stress.

Trivedy says if the drought worsens he expects those figures to rise.

“And it’s working on the basis that if those figures escalate, have we got the right provisions in the right quantities, in the right places, to be able to distribute food, also ensure there is safe drinking water and so on. And we are particularly concerned about those who are the most vulnerable, very young children, people who have got long-term illnesses, the disabled.”

Trivedy says there are already health issues and this will worsen the longer the drought goes on.

“We are very concerned about the fact that if people do not receive relief items, if they don’t have safe water, if they don’t have access to food, then we will start to see more illnesses and we need to make sure, both in terms of water borne diseases and so on that we take preventative action as quickly as possible.”

Meanwhile, villagers in Fiji’s Northern and Western Divisions are calling on the government for help with water supplies, as the disaster management office deals with over 67,000 people affected by drought.

The Principal Disaster Management Officer, Sunia Ratulevu, says water trucks and tanks have been sent to the worst-affected places.

The remote Yasawa Island group has received water from visiting ships.

Ratulevu says despite a tropical depression some weeks ago, there was not enough sustained rain to provide the necessary relief.

“But not really any major impact on the drought situation that we have, but it did give us a slight relief. We are still monitoring the situation and we will respond to any immediate need that arises and we still have the capacity to do that.”

Ratulevu says his office stands ready to help communities cope with El Niño.

In Tonga, officials there are hoping that rain currently falling over the Niua islands will head south and relieve the drought-stricken country.

However, the National Emergency Office director, Leveni ‘Aho, says he fears the worst is yet to come as the region deals with a threatening El Niño pattern affecting the South Pacific.

He says so far the only place where water has been delivered is on the island of ‘Eua, but the government is ready to organise shipping water to more remote islands if and when required.

He says if needed, the government will use desalination plants, but it’s an expensive operation.

“It’s all based on a diesel-generated desalination plant but we have one on the main island of Ha’apai which is on standby – but so far we haven’t activated those as yet – but we will be ready to activate those when the needs arise.”

‘Aho says international partners such as Australia and New Zealand have communicated that they stand ready to support Tonga if asked to help.

- RNZI