PAPUA NEW GUINEA DROUGHT

THE PNG AND AUSTRALIAN DEFENCE FORCES WORKING TOGETHER FOR THE PEOPLE OF PNG DURING THE 1997 – 1998 DROUGHT

INTRODUCTION

The aim of the PNGDF-ADF Drought Relief Homepage is to help make the international community aware of the drought in Papua New Guinea and the efforts to combat it by the Papua New Guinea and Australian Defence Forces.

As a result of the drought, described by the Papua New Guinea Prime Minister Bill Skate as one of the greatest disasters in the country’s history, 660,000 people do not have enough daily food. Of these, some 101,000 are in critical need of immediate aid.

OPERATION SIERRA is the name for the Australian Defence Force’s contribution to the Papua New Guinea Drought Relief effort. The Papua New Guinea Defence Force uses the name OPERATION PLES DRAI, which is Pidgen English for DRY PLACE. The Australian Defence Force has adopted this name for the operation locally in Papua New Guinea.

The information in this Homepage includes which elements of the Australian and Papua New Guinea Defence Forces are involved in OPERATION PLES DRAI, how the drought relief air operations are being conducted, general news releases about the operation, and photographs of the relief effort.

Further general information about the Australian Defence Force’s role in the Papua New Guinea drought relief effort can be gained by contacting the Public Relations Officer with the Australian Defence Force Drought Relief Contingent in Papua New Guinea. Mail should be addressed to the above officer, care of the Australian High Commission, Locked Bag 40, Kingston, ACT, 2604, Australia.

This Homepage is an initiative of the Papua New Guinea and Australian Defence Force Combined Task Force Headquarters, which is to be formed to co-ordinate the military support to the national drought relief effort. The help and assistance of Global Technologies, a Papua New Guinea company based in Port Moresby which is finding new technology can be used to solve basic problems, is acknowledged. Global Technologies kindly offered to set up and maintain this Homepage free of charge, as their contribution to the PNG drought relief effort.