Labu-Tale village is located a few kilometers across the Huon Peninsula from Lae city, it is home to almost 700 inhabitants.
The current village households are scattered along a 20-30 meters land area between the sea and the lagoon that runs on the other side.
The people’s livelihoods have been greatly affected by floods, which destroy most of their food gardens that are built along the banks of the lagoon.
Facing the open sea the community are also vulnerable to tsunamis and rising sea level.
However all these risks are going to be manageable following the launching of a plan booklet, which will serve as a guide to help in Disaster risk reduction for the community.
As a pilot project in the country, it has taken 8 months for the International Organization for Migration (IOM) to facilitate the community based disaster risk management training.
Disaster Risk Reduction Project Manager IOM Wonesha Sithole says the village is a unique and the community were committed and cooperative in doing what they can with the available resources they have.
As part of their community driven initiative, a bridge was built across the river making it easier for the people to escape to higher grounds during disasters.
Disaster drills were also taught to the community, young children and disabled people were active participants.
“Most coastal communities throughout the world are faced with the same kind of issue like Labu-Tale, '' says Regional Director of IOM Asia Pacific region Mr Andrew Bruce.
The National Disaster Centre through the Morobe Provincial Disaster office has also provided adequate support to facilitate the training.
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