March-May 1997

Dear Brethren and Friends;

Greetings in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ.

CYCLONE DAMAGE
Where does one start when so much has happened since March 3rd. I guess just start. On March 6 the New Guinea mainland began experiencing hot dry winds as a result of a cyclone located between PNG and Australia. The cyclone remained stationary for a number of days and its clockwise rotation brought hot dry winds from the interior of Australia. This resulted in humidity dropping under 60% and the temperatures soaring into the high 90's and not getting below 85º at night. Very, very dry conditions prevailed with no rain for three weeks until the cyclone moved off south to Australia. This brought out the fire bugs (here in Lae) and fires were burning everywhere. Many of our tropical trees have vines climbing up and into the trees which derive their moisture from the abundance of rain. They too dried up and people lit fires which consumed the dried vines and that then went up into the trees and burned everything dry. Even after the rains came back the trees are struggling to stay alive.

These hot dry winds had an even more damaging effect on other parts of PNG such as the Papuan Waria Valley. This is an area where Reg & Ruth Coles and Tom & Rens Bunt worked for a number of years.The winds were so dry that people did not sweat even in the noon time heat. Older people and small children suffered nose bleeds and the majority of the people were affected with very dry skin and cracked lips. The winds were of such a force in the Valley that thousands of hectares of tree were blown down (after being dried out) and what trees still stand have little foliage. The houses are covered with saksak (thatch) and these too were stripped bare. Many houses were blown over as well. Many of the people on exposed ridges packed up and moved down by the rivers to try to find relief from these winds. When the wind did subside people tell of flocks of birds which landed in clearings too exhausted to fly. The people went around picking them up by the handfuls and then killing them and eating them. During a slight lull of the ferocious winds some people began burning their gardens in the Kira area. (Slash and burn is standard garden practice.) The winds shifted and resumed, coming behind the fires driving flames up the mountain sides and into the tender dry Orouba area.

Ground level smoke preceded the fires which many people watched on the far ridges. The winds picked up in intensity and literally drove the fire down the mountain valleys and up and over into other valleys and jumping across the rivers to the inner areas. The wind then got behind the fires again and drove it back down the other side of the valley, back down to Kira station. The majority of the people went to the water and sat there while the fire roared all around them. People covered their faces and bodies with water soaked clothes & towels in the river. Many people brought what they could from their houses and what they didn’t bring they dug holes and buried. Even some of these suitcases caught fire even as they sat in the water and the contents were lost in the water. The fire was of such a destructive nature it consumed everything in its path – trees, houses, animals, brush, gardens - everything. What they buried was eaten by white ants.

The magnitude of the affected area is hard to imagine. The Aro and Aroba areas were affected but without the house fires. They had the high, hot and dry winds which felled trees and de-roofed houses as well as knocking over not a few. These winds then heated the ground in the gardens and then brush fires raged throughout these gardens. When scattered showers did fall the rain steamed the root crops and most crops have rotted in the ground. This area lost a lot of roofs and tarps were needed to provide cover. Limited bush is available to repair and rebuild. Food is going to be in short supply for a number of months to come.
Hardest hit were the areas hit by the winds and followed by the bush fires and house fires. This includes the villages of Ondoro, Repanaga, Orouba, Eroma, Pikie, Saradara and Tiripa. 98% of everything was destroyed. These are subsistence farmers. They have no outside income. They have no way of generating income. They live ( I hate to use the word live, more like survive) on what they grow in their gardens. Now they have nothing. They don’t have gardens and they don’t have bush materials in which to rebuild (Oh, they have a lot of fallen trees but have no roof materials or materials to make walls.) They no longer have bush materials they use for binding. The women no longer have bush materials for making and weaving their ‘bilums’. (Carry bags for their food, children and other everyday things.) There are no birds in the trees because there are no trees. When a bird does come in the area, if it lands and receives no return to its call it flies on. The rivers are polluted with fallen trees and ground slides. The people have had to find new water seeps from the ground to provide for daily needs and have very few plastic containers left to carry the water in.

Please keep in mind, during my whole trip I was greeted by smiling faces. They have lost everything in this world but they still have life. The National government has not gone into the area. The closest they got was Kira station where they landed, talked to the kiap (local policeman), took pictures and left. This is 2-3 hours from the hardest hit areas.

RELIEF UPDATE
Due to the generosity and speed of your response to this need we were able to get immediate relief into the areas worse affected. Since the first of April we have expended over $23,000. Over half of this has been for the air freight of relief into the area. There are no roads. After the initial food and tarp drops we are in the process of scheduling weekly loads of rice and fresh vegetables. We contacted local merchants for assistance and several provided garden tools to replace burned tools and seeds and plastic containers and kerosene. One cracker manufacturer gave us over 35,000 packets of cheese and beef crackers. I am working on a deal to get 800 day old chicks into the area next month. It takes up to 4 months for gardens to produce their main staple, kaukau (local sweet potato) and other tubular food. They are starting to get greens already from the replanted gardens.

I have been in contact with the American Embassy – they cannot help because the area was not officially declared a disaster area when I first wrote. Since then they cannot help because it does not fall within the framework of the Aid agency; the National Disaster Agency – they have not sent anyone out so cannot comment.; the Minister in charge – we can't expect much help from the National government as cash is short due to financial constraints. In all the winds affected 8 provinces with at least 10,000 houses destroyed + schools + churches + businesses.

In this area of the Papuan Waria over 120 Christian families were affected. In some of the outlaying areas other brethren were affected by the hot winds and garden food is in short supply. We are trying our best to help where we can. Our initial target was $30,000 but now believe that we will need closer to $50,000 to meet the needs of provision for three more months and help in rebuilding. NEWS FLASH! Just received a copy of a letter the government Minister sent to the government disaster coordinator telling him to get a helicopter and get out and inspect the area (as he has not done so but wrote a letter stating that he thought my report was 'excessive'). Seems my prodding has brought results. Things are still bleak but better than 3 months ago when it happened. The brethren send their deepest thanks.

OTHER NEWS
This opportunity to help came while all other works continued. We have completed 2 sessions of MBC. In the third session I am teaching two day classes to the men and 1 night class to the wives. Kathy and I both had bouts of malaria last month but are both doing well again. (Really! Malaria doesn't affect the hrain bat al.) I took a trip out for a first hand look at the affected areas. Every week we truck loads of food out to the airport for freighting into the areas. It is a 30 minute out 30 minute back trip on a blacktopped road, with swiss cheese like pot holes. The local chapter of the Red Cross is collecting needed items for the affected areas and will be giving this into our hands later this week. When the local National Disaster coordinator asked to talk with them they said no! and that they would be helping the churches of Christ as we were the first to bring the disaster to the attention of the national media and country as a whole. Somehow I think this fits in with what Jesus said, "They shall know you are my disciples because you love one another."

As of the March newsletter we went to a quarterly mailout. Sorry, but this is a result of higher printing and mailing costs. We do put out a shorter monthly newsletter to a smaller mailing and if you desire to be on it please write and tell us so. Write to us here in PNG. I will be putting together an extensive report with pictures this week and if you have not helped or are not on the shorter mailing list please write requesting a copy. Would be more than happy to send it.

In Christian service.

Tobey & Kathy Huff

Prayer needs: 1. MBC.; 2. Continued support for the cyclone affected brethren (funds can be sent to College St. marked "PNG Relief Fund" 3. Biblical leadership for PNG and Island churches.