Plan ahead of El Nino, Guina says

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THE government and stakeholders need to plan ahead to manage possible risks caused by the effects of El Nino to communities and the economy, says Department of Provincial and Local Level Government Affairs Secretary Dickson Guina.
Speaking at the opening of an El Nino Early Action Planning workshop last week, Guina said they needed to think about how they could immediately work to increase the resilience of the communities so that even if El Nino did not happen, they would be better prepared, strengthened, and more resilient.
The workshop facilitated by the United Nations Development Programme and National Disaster Centre was to prepare for a potential El Nino in August which could bring drier than normal conditions to PNG.
Guina said the workshop allowed an opportunity to prepare for El Nino and not wait for the event to actually happen.
As the chairman of the National Disaster Committee, Guina urged stakeholders to focus on critical sectors such as water sanitation and hygiene, food security, nutrition, education, protection and gender that were likely to be impacted.
“I am particularly concerned about access to clean water,” Guina said.
“We need to pay attention to the far-reaching impacts of drought.” Guina said there were some communities continuously struggling for access to clean water and drought worsened those conditions.