Image: Donation boxes of food supplies and other relief sent to the disaster-affected victims in the Highlands during the deadly earthquake in 2018.
By Adelaide Kari – EMTV News, Port Moresby
Clean drinking water was something that was much needed during the 2017 earthquake which affected Hela and 3 other provinces. Water, once a disaster strikes, becomes a humanitarian mission to get as quickly and efficiently as possible to the affected communities.
In 2017, millions were affected by a 7.5 magnitude earthquake, but days after the earthquake the real disaster struck – No clean drinking water led to thousands suffering from water-borne diseases.
A lesson learnt from the disaster, today the Emergency Restoration office received 20 portable water filtration systems from the Israeli Government. The NUFiltration is able to filter 500 Litres of murky undrinkable water every hour.
The Israeli ambassador to the Pacific, Tibor Shalve Schlosser, stated that the technology behind the portable NUFiltration brought together Israeli experience in water security, as they recycle 87% of their water, and their medical technology such as NUFiltration, is also built from parts of a dialysis machine used for Diabetic patients.
The Israeli Government also provided training to the PNGDF Preventive Medical Platoon, some of those who received the training were the first PNGDF officers on the scene in Hela during the deadly earthquake.
Going Forward, Emergency Controller, Dr Bill Hamblin, says it is worth looking into to have more than 20 filters in the country once training is conducted and the system is tested out in a disaster area.
The NUFiltration system is expected to be sent to Western Province in the coming days after training is conducted.
