Flood affected people in Villages in the Aroma LLG of Abau District in the Central Province, have not received relief supplies and funds. Floods hit the area, affecting the livelihood of villages, as their food sources were destroyed and their water supplies contaminated. Flooded roads as well, severely impacted PMV operations and limited or completely stopped services to the villages. From reports, Amazon Bay was allocated K30, 000, Cloudy Bay K30, 000 and Aroma Coast K60, 000 to purchase relief food items. A number of Ward Councilors have now come forward to express their dissatisfactions at the relief supplies they had received. Ward 7 Member representing Waiori Village, Leva Vali stated that he received an estimated K2, 000 worth of store goods from the China shop at Kupiano station as organized by the Abau DDA. “I have a population of 3,000 people and received 10 bales of rice, 10 cartons biscuits and 10 cartons noodles. You do the math and see how much each person or household will receive. This is totally a waste of funds,” Mr. Vali said. Ward 2 Member representing Viriolo village, Ila Pat Ila’ava stated he never received any goods as he was told his relief supplies were picked up by other villagers without his consent and that the supplies did not reach the village. A disappointed Ila’ava stated that in future such relief supplies must be coordinated transparently because the end result is that our people are suffering. Ward 10 Member representing Kelerakwa village, Albert Gima stating that the food supplies received were not enough. “I received 10 bales of rice, 10 cartons biscuits and 10 cartons noodles and I have a population of 2,000 plus people.” “Many people have missed out and are complaining to me.” “Let’s be realistic when doing distribution. We at the Ward level feel the real effect of this disaster and know what our villagers are going through at this point in time.” “Our water wells are under water, our food gardens are under water and most importantly our road access is cut off and currently we are using the main highway via Kupiano and that’s with an additional cost,” said Mr. Gima. The same sentiments were shared by Ward 16 Member representing Maopa No 2 village, Ravu Vali. He strongly stated that elected leaders for every community must be consulted as primary point of contact for accurate damage reports. “This damage assessment approach must be collective, coordinated and consultative bottom-up process in order to capture accuracy and extent of the damage coverage.” “The tireless efforts of the Ward members in most cases or if not, all cases are overlooked or neglected.” “We live with the people in the communities and better understand them or suffer together with the silent majority of the rural population.” “We become political slaves of our provincial and national government ignorance. All sectors including education, health, transport and business need urgent assistance. It’s a month now and the government has not visited us,” Mr. Vali said. All the Ward Councilors collectively queried if there is a plan and strategy in the Disaster relief co-ordination. They claim that they have seen reports of the Provincial Government requesting for K85 million from the National Government with disaster relief but these funds seemed to have not tricked down to the Ward Level and it is also a concern that they have not spoken with any disaster officers from either the Provincial Government or the district. They are now calling on the Central Provincial Government and the Abau District Authority to explain how this disaster relief is being coordinated so as to ensure that the people of Abau receive the full benefit of the relief.