The governor of Chimbu Province in Papua New Guinea says more aid is needed from the national government to combat what he calls an emergency situation.
Dry creek bed Photo: Supplied
Noah Kool says 300,000 people in the province have been affected by frosts and drought, which has caused water supplies to dry up and food gardens to be destroyed.
He says the lack of water has meant schools are closing, public servants are not working and the hospital is shutting its doors.
Mr Kool says the national government needs to do a thorough assessment of what aid is needed.
"They need to assess, go into each of the provinces and assess very, very carefully. I don't know how they are going to do it, but we need to be given more aid. We need to be given more aid. Currently they gave us only 5000 bags of 20 kg rice. What about the 299,500 households? I think we've got a big problem here. What about the water containers?"
Noah Kool says if the national government is slow to respond he is ready to approach other organisations to help his province.
The drought is expected to last into next year.