KEY FIGURES
544K people affected
270K people targeted
5 provinces targeted
$62M funding required
SITUATION OVERVIEW
On 26 February 2018, a 7.5 magnitude earthquake hit the Highlands Region of Papua New Guinea (PNG), affecting an estimated 544,000 people in five provinces - Enga, Gulf, Hela, Southern Highlands and Western provinces, with Hela and Southern Highlands the most affected. More than 270,000 people including 125,000 children, were in immediate need of life saving assistance.
Since the previous dashboard update, humanitarian access has improved significantly in Southern Highlands and Hela provinces due to continued presence of the PNG Government’s security forces. There remain earthquake-impacted areas in Hela province which have been accessed as non-permissible due to ongoing low-level armed conflict. These include Komo Rural LLG.
Within the reporting period, humanitarian actors continued to address health and nutrition, WaSH, shelter, protection and education needs. As of end September, several CERF-funded projects have been completed including provision of food assistance, sexual and reproductive health services, emergency shelter, addressing protection needs of women and girls and interagency logistics coordination. Due to constraints to humanitarian access, several CERF-funded projects have been extended including health, nutrition, child protection, education and WaSH interventions. All CERF-funded projects are expected to be complete by November 2018.