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NEWCASTLE, Australia (AP) — The Australian Government announced Thursday it will provide a further two million Australian dollars ($1.3 million) to support reconstruction efforts in the region of last month’s major landslide in Papua New Guinea's mountainous interior.
The support comes as PNG continues to grapple with the aftermath of the disaster in the remote Enga province, which the United Nations estimates killed 670 villagers and immediately displaced 1,650 survivors. Papua New Guinea’s government has told the United Nations it thinks more than 2,000 people were buried.
“Road access is critical for essential services as well as food and fuel supply chains,” Australian Foreign Minister Penny Wong said in a written media statement on Thursday which coincided during a visit to the site of the landslide in Mulitaka with PNG Defence Minister Dr Billy Joseph and Enga province's Governor Peter Ipatas.
“The additional support of $2 million announced today is in response to PNG’s request to restore connectivity of the Highlands Highway – the transport artery of the region,” she added.
Wong said the financial aid would also support local healthcare services and the provision of more than one thousand learning packs for children.
Thursday's announcement builds on Australia’s initial assistance of $2.5 million for emergency supplies, support for humanitarian partners and the deployment of technical experts including a Disaster Assistance Response Team in the days after the landslide on May 24.
“Australia and Papua New Guinea are close neighbours, friends and equals,” Wong said.
“We stand ready to provide further assistance to the people and Government of Papua New Guinea.”
Deputy Prime Minister Richard Marles and Wong, with other senior government officials are currently in PNG for a ministerial forum, the most significant such bilateral gathering for Australia amongst the South Pacific island nations.
PNG has a population of nearly 10 million people and is the most populous Pacific Island nation.
During the visit, they unveiled a comprehensive aid package aimed at bolstering PNG's internal security and advancing law and justice priorities under a bilateral security agreement established last year as part of Australia's attempts to ward of growing Chinese influence in the region.
Key components of the package involve supporting a weapons management program and enhancing PNG’s legal framework to combat financial crime.
“A safe and secure Papua New Guinea is good for Papua New Guinea, it’s good for Australia and it’s good for the region,” Wong said Thursday on Channel Nine's Today show.
“So, we have an interest, Australians have an interest in making sure we work with Papua New Guinea, our closest neighbour, to ensure security and stability," she added.
Already this year, PNG has been beset by deadly riots in its two largest cities, Port Moresby and Lae, while long-running tribal fueds led to at least 26 men being killed in an ambush in February, as well as a clash between two rival clans that killed eight last month.