THE National Disaster Management Office is seeking an extra $6.4 million from the national government to continue with its relief efforts outside of Honiara and other provinces.
This was after the initial $6 million the government had allocated for relief efforts in Honiara had been used up.
The need for additional funds had put more pressure on NDMO as much is yet to be done outside of Honiara and the provinces, which required urgent attention and response from the government.
In response to questions raised by the Solomon Star, the NDMO office said the Government had already spent a total of $6 million in response to the disaster emergency situation and the ongoing rehabilitation process following the April 3 floods which killed at least 22 people.
The office said this $6m was separate from donations provided by donors and other groups during the disaster.
“Funds for the emergency relief efforts have been spent already. This is the $6 million allocation by SIG. However, funds budgeted for the ongoing relief efforts in emergency centres are still available,” NDMO reported.
NDMO said a formal report on donations will be publicised to acknowledge the donations and support rendered to Solomon Islands during the recent disaster on a later date.
However, NDMO said it is seeking extra funds from the Government to continue with relief efforts in other provinces which were also affected during the recent heavy rains.
“These are parts of Western, Choiseul, Isabel, Malaita and Guadalcanal. This is estimated to be around $6.4 million. This is crucial for getting relief and rehabilitation exercises to the provinces which involves a lot of logistics, particularly, shipping services,” NDMO said.
Meanwhile, the NDMO admits that it is not an easy task repatriating people out from the current evacuation centres.
As of 13th May, a total of 4358 displaced peoples are still staying in the camps which are operational.
It was reported that initially there were about 10,092 Internally Displaced Persons living in 27 Evacuation Centres on both Honiara and Guadalcanal.
While pressure is now on the government and NDMO to repatriate people out from the current evacuation centres, NDMO said these people’s occupation depends on the ongoing repatriation process and how fast people are repatriated back to their communities.
“This is not an easy process and the NDMO is working hard to get people back home as soon as possible.
“This task involves a lot of negotiation with victims. The NMDO is continuing to assist those who are willing to return home.”
By DANIEL NAMOSUAIA
