Wau Waria identifies more than sixty-three thousand El Nino victims

Morobe’s Waria district is a step closer to accessing its K2.5 million El Nino relief fund allocation, after completing comprehensive drought assessments across all 43 wards, identifying 63,756 affected people from 14,394 households.

The findings by the District's El Nino Response Committee across the Wau Urban, Wau Rural and the Waria LLGs revealed widespread drinking water shortages, food insecurity, crop losses and health risks, providing the critical evidence needed to justify the release and utilisation of the funds.

The Wau Waria MP, as the District Development Authority (DDA) Chairman, Marsh Narewec clarified, that although the allocation is accessible, payments cannot be made without meeting the necessary accountability requirements.

"The K2.5 million is accessible but not accessed yet due to these assessments. We have to submit the assessment report to justify the release of payments. It is not a Tucker box where we hand out cash or make payments anyhow," he said.

Rather than waiting for the funds, the district's multi-stakeholder response committee has completed the assessments and is now finalising plans for distribution of the essential relief supplies, prioritising communities who were most affected.

The MP has so far acknowledged the collective efforts of the ward councillors, the LLG officers, the assessment teams and communities in completing this important part of the district-wide assessment.

Submission of the assessment report and fulfilment of the remaining requirements are now the final critical steps, towards accessing the K2.5 million needed to deliver the much-needed relief supplies.