The Southern Highlands province has been struck by many disasters this year alone, from manmade disaster to natural disaster and sadly most victims have not been able to receive any form of help from the Provincial Disaster Office. This is because the Southern Highlands Provincial Disaster Office has been without funding for a very long time, this was revealed by the Provincial Disaster Coordinator, Mr. Peter Wapenda-Wari. The recent Flood in Aiya LLG (Magani River burst) saw no assistance from the Disaster Office, despite contacts made by people on the ground to the office. Mr. Wapenda-Wari highlighted that the disaster office also lacks logistical support. “The disaster officers are ready to help, however the problem is we can not move because we do not have any funds nor do we have any form of logistic support, we are practically handicapped.” “Most disaster affected areas have been oversighted because we cannot go into those areas to do primary assessment, scale the disaster and report back to the Provincial Government and the National Disaster Centre for relief help to victims.” He added that despite their situation, he is very grateful for the short-term relief assistance coming in from Non-Government Organization like the United Nations, IOM and their local District Development Authority who have been the fore runner in assisting all victims of disasters in their local areas. “People need long term help, people need to find themselves, pick up and start over from where they were cut off, and sadly, the Southern Highlands Disaster Office has been handicapped and cannot provide long term rehabilitation and support.” “So many requests have been made over and over again, but sadly all requests for funding and logistic support to the disaster department have been falling on deaf ears.” Meantime, with the Southern Highlands Provincial Headquarter now under renovation, Meantime, Mr. Wapenda-Wari hopes that once renovation work on the Southern Highlands Provincial Headquarter building is done and work resumes, the Provincial Government can prioritize on funding, logistic support and other administrative support also for the Provincial Disaster Office.