Pidgin Words for this week
- Guria - earthquake
- Graun - earth
Guria
The following is from the General Manager of Pacom Communications - Pacom Web Page: http://www.prosec.com.pg/pacom
A big guria was felt at Woitape lodge on Tuesday night 5/6/2001 at about 7 PM and later at about 1.30 AM.
I also believe that it hit Wafi Creek mining area causing land slides and damaging some buildings.
It also gave a Pacom Technician on the Hertzog range repeater site a big scare as the 100-foot tower was seen to sway at the top by about 10-15 feet popping many of the coax cable ties.
Terry Griffiths
General Manager,
Pacom Communications
Post Courier
The Post Courier (http://www.postcourier.com.pg) has joined several famous newspapers including the New York Times, The Times of London, The Australian and the Brisbane Courier Mail on the world's biggest Internet based newspaper library archive. The database located at http://www.newstext.com.au contains the full text versions of over 150 newspapers across Australia, New Zealand and the United Kingdom and as of today PNG and USA.
Compensation
The government has put a stop to all land compensation payments totalling more than K75 million that have been awarded to landowners by the National Land Commission.
The National Executive Council has directed the Attorney General to make possible a court review of all awards made by the National Land Commission.
National Executive Council
The National Executive Council (NEC) is meeting at Mount Hagen in the Western Highlands province. The Western Highlands is the stronghold of Pious Wingti the chief mover of the Peoples Democratic Movement.
The Governor of the Western Highlands, Father Robert Lak has said that holding the NEC meeting in his provinces is a misuse of funds.
Mt Hagen Police
Police are on alert in Mount Hagen during the visit of the Prime Minister and the National Executive Council. About 200 police, including five mobile squads, have been deployed to keep the peace.
RPNGC
The Royal PNG Constabulary
(RPNGC) barracks at Bagita, Port Moresby have been demolished in readiness for a new two-storey single men's barrack. Work on the new barracks has been started. The Australian Government is supplying the estimated K1.48 million required to do the project.
Gordon's barracks is also benefiting to the tune of approx. K680 thousand worth of renovating works to single men's barracks as well as work on the storm water and sewerage drains.
Provincial Woes
Several provincial governments are concerned that even if court action against the National Government is successful there will be no money in the bank to pay up.
Peace Corps
After 20 years in the country the volunteer organisation USA Peace Corps is packing up and leaving the country citing deteriorating security problems as the reason. The volunteers have worked in remote areas like Bema, Menyamya and Wasu in Morobe province and Wasab in Madang and in areas like Misima, Goodenough in Milne Bay and many other rural outposts.
The volunteers have been subjected to aggravated assault, robbery at gunpoint, attacked while working alongside their local counterparts and have had their cars stolen and their homes broken into. This has been assessed as being three times the risk factor of other developing countries.
American tourists to Papua New Guinea are cancelling their travel arrangements here following the "high security risk" alert posted on the Internet by the Peace Corps.
Sir Michael Somare
It has been tipped that the leader of the National Alliance, Sir Michael Somare, will have his leadership challenged by possibly Bart Philemon, Manus Governor Stephen Pokawin or Wapenamanda MP Masket Iangalio.
Pokies
Church leaders have met with the Prime Minister in Mount Hagen and petitioned him to get rid of poker machines. The machines are currently taxed heavily but this has not stop family members gambling what little income people have in an attempt to win big money.
East New Britain
An upsurge in crime in the province has seen an increase in car thefts, break and enter, robbery, armed hold ups and attempted rapes. The increase has been blamed on an influx of people from other provinces.
Landowner Problems
Problems with landowners in East New Britain jeopardise the jobs of 200 Papua New Guineans who are employed by D-Scan (PNG) Ltd, a foreign company involved in the processing of teak into furniture components for export at its Takubar mill near Kokopo. 82 PNG employees have already been laid off.
The landowners want to take a 100 percent equity in the company so they can negotiate prices of their teak with D-Scan's sister company in Indonesia.
Goroka
Between the 19th of May and the 8th of June a total of 74 cases of typhoid has been reported at the Goroka Base Hospital in the Eastern Highlands province. Typhoid is the third reason for admissions to the hospital after malaria and pneumonia.
Residents are being warned to boil water and not to buy food from roadside stalls.
PNG Accommodation and Tourism Sites
Accommodation Sites
- Kanges Hotel Mt Hagen +675 542 1480 - - fax 542 2463
- Kiunga Lodge - +675 548 1045 -- fax 548 1069
- Lae Guest house - +675 472 7761 -- fax 472 3702
- Plaza Guest house Port Moresby - +675 311 2289 -- fax 311 2889
Tourism Sites
If any reader has a site they would like added to the lists above please send email to any of the email addresses listed in this newsletter.
Central Province
Public Motor Vehicle (PMV) fares have gone up in Central province. The last fare increase was in June 1995. And the operators of the many buses have been struggling to make ends meet let alone maintain their equipment.
Illegal Immigrants
John Pundari, the newly appointed Foreign Affairs Minister has declared war on illegal immigrants. The East New Britain governor, Leo Dion has supported the move by Mr Pundari and had appealed to all in East New Britain province to report any suspicious individuals. He also said that many of the jobs being held by the illegal immigrants were jobs reserved for the people of PNG.
Copra
Moves have started in East New Britain to set up a copra exporting company owned by small copra producers in the province. The company will be known as the East New Britain Exporting Company.
2002 Elections
Eligible voters are being called on to enrol for the national elections that are only just around the corner. Local level government elections will also be held at the same time.
To enrol a voter must;
- Be 18 years of age or older,
- Be mentally fit and understand the voting system,
- Have lived in his or her electorate for six months or longer
- Not be under a National Court death sentence or in jail for more than nine months; and
- Not have been found guilty by a court for breaking an election law in the past three years.
Bill Skate
Mr Skate, the leader of the PNG Opposition, has recently registered his new political party. The name of the party is not yet known.
Lady Carol Kidu
Lady Carol has come up with a scheme called "The Bag of Books" to help beat the common problem in PNG where individual books are borrowed and never returned. It is hoped that the bag of books will be signed out in the name of a reliable person who will be responsible for the return of the bag that will contain six books.
Sepik River
Villages and tourists along the famous river are being terrorised by an armed gang. The gang is heavily armed with high-powered rifles. Unconfirmed reports say that tourists have been held up near Karawari Lodge. The police are powerless to do anything about the problem because they do not have working dinghy to go after the criminals. The Provincial Police Commander has written to the divisional headquarters in Lae for help.
Fish Attack
Fish known as Paku (piaractus briachypumus), introduced in the early 1990s, by the Food and Agriculture Organisation (FAO) and National Fisheries Authority (NFA), into the Sepik River and Ramu River systems are causing concern to villagers. It has reportedly killed two people in the Sepik area already as well as injuring other villagers.
The Paku is an insect-eating species related to the piranha, a savage freshwater fish from tropical South America. It is threatening the Sepik and Ramu river eco-systems, killing the native fish population.
Malaria
The Department of Health has pledged itself to attempting to getting rid of Malaria. Malaria accounts for between 25 - 35 percent of all outpatient attendances in PNG. The Co-operative Centre for Vaccine Technology (Australia) and the Swiss Tropical Institute have just successfully completed the analysis of a malaria vaccine efficiency trail performed in the Wosera area of the East Sepik Province.
The vaccine was able to produce a reduction in the number of parasite numbers by as much as 62 percent. This is a promising result but is not to be seen as the final result.
Boating Accident
A dive boat accident has seen the death of a woman from USA. The dive boat was overturned and sank when it was hit by a wave at a popular dive spot last Saturday.
Search parties from the Loloata Island Resort, National Emergency and Surveillance, Maritime Search and Rescue, nearby Pari village, Royal PNG Yacht Club, including members of the US Army and soldiers from Taurama Barracks, have failed to find the woman's body.
Kaugere Youth
The Good News Centre at Kaugere, allowed to run down for the past eight years, is slowly getting a facelift. Youth from Kaugere, Sabama and Vabukori gather there every Thursday and under the supervision of Pastor Tony Savoa from the Boroko United Church give the place a new look.
Madang Town
A claim by villages that the Madang Town land was theirs has been thrown out by a National Court judgment which has declared the land as being state land.
Orchid Show
Wolfgang Bandisch at the Botanical Gardens in the National Capital has announced that there will be an Orchid show to be held on the 25th of August this year.
Air Niugini
The national airline has embarked on an "I support PNG - I fly Air Niugini" campaign in a bid to win back some loyalty of the many PNG citizens who choose to fly on airlines other than the national airline. The TV advertisement was filmed in Cairns by an Australian based advertising agency. I believe the Australian agency does employ a PNG citizen.
Computer Companies in PNG
Note:- Most of these companies offer information about PNG as well as selling computer products so if you are after info on PNG then take a visit to any of the following url's
PNG media related sites
If a friend has given or sent you a copy of this newsletter and you would like to keep receiving free copies then please visit http://www.png-gossip.com/news/index.html for instructions on how to join the list.
Articles for this newsletter
If you think you have a PNG page worth mentioning then please send e-mail to giaman@png-gossip.com.
To send a message for submission to the PNG Gossip Newsletter queue please e-mail your contribution to pngnews.queue@png-gossip.com
.gif)
.jpg)
View PNG Gossip Newsletter Archive
