PNG Western Province overlooked in quake relief, say MPs

Members of Parliament from Papua New Guinea's Western Province say their earthquake-affected constituents have been overlooked in the distribution of disaster relief.

They've said about 26,000 people in the province have been affected by the recent quakes, through the loss of homes and the pollution of waterways.

They have said their people were in desperate need of food, water and shelter.

The province is home to the Ok Tedi gold mine which donated US$15.5 million (50 million PNG Kina) to relief efforts.

However, the South Fly MP, Sekie Agisa, said the government spent most of it in neighbouring provinces.

"Fifty million [Kina] that was donated by Ok Tedi but unfortunately we were told that 42 [million Kina] have gone into roads in the Highlands," said Mr Agisa.

"Forty-two million, where they knew that Western Province was actually affected they should have considered probably putting half of that 50 million into Western Province."

Sekie Agisa said following the earthquakes, the Strickland and Fly Rivers in Western Province had been polluted, possibly by tailings from the Porgera gold mine.

Mr Agisa said people living on the banks of those rivers and tributaries were on the verge of starvation due to pollution killing off animal life.

He said fish and crocodiles were being killed by the pollution, depriving about 30,000 people of food.

Mr Agisa said he suspected the pollution coming from the Porgera gold mine in Enga was to blame.

"Marine life, crocodile and prawns, a lot of species of fish have died," he said.

"The water is not in a good condition, meaning the colour of the water that we normally have has changed. But this is a new pollution again from the affects [of the earthquake] most likely [from] Porgera."

Sekie Agisa said he had been told that 10 tonnes of food relief could be sent to Western Province which he said had so far been overlooked during the earthquake relief effort.