Guadalcanal Premier Praises Disaster Office

Premier for Guadalcanal Province Stephen Panga has praised the National Disaster Management Office for conducting a first ever community level disaster risk management workshop in his Province yesterday.

The workshop, held at the Calvary village near Ruavatu Secondary School, East of Guadalcanal, will run for four days. More than 20 representatives from Reko to Aola districts are attending the workshop.

The workshop is facilitated by the Provincial Disaster Coordinators of Guadalcanal, Mr. Herrick Savusi, Makira and Ulawa Province's Chris Neo and Choiseul Province's Nelson Anaia. The workshop is funded by AUSAID through its 'Project Support Grant Account.'

In his statement, Premier Panga said that his province is fortunate to have a disaster coordinator to assist communities in the Province learn and understand their roles and responsibilities in disaster management.

Mr. Panga mentioned that the workshop is very timely because Guadalcanal is always prone to disasters, especially that of floods.

Adding on he said that the workshop will instill ideas for communities to do things themselves rather than depend on support from the Provincial and Government authorities.

"The workshop is very important so participants must use the opportunity to get all the necessary knowledge and skills to take back and share them with their fellow community members," Mr. Panga said.

NDMO's media officer told Solomon Times that the Premier assured the NDMO staff that a land will be allocated for disaster management in their proposed headquarters at Doma, Northwest of Guadalcanal.

He also praised the chairman of Reko disaster committee, Mr. Eric Miti and his members for working together with NDMO to bring the workshop to their village saying more training workshops should be conducted within the Province.