Transcript
The epicentre of February's major quake and most subsequent aftershocks were located in Hela.
But the province has been largely without international aid since tribal conflict spiralled a month ago, leaving local communities feeling abandoned by the international aid community and their own government.
Unicef's Acting Country Director for PNG, Monjur Hossain, says relief supplies had been delivered to Hela's provincial capital Tari in the first few weeks following the big quake.
But these had to be abandoned.
"We are actually withdrawn, evacuated basically from Tari and entire Hela Province, all UN staff and all the aid workers as per the advice of the United Nations Department of Security and Safety we have evacuated from the Hela Province."
Tari has been the focal point of some of the worst tribal fighting in recent weeks, exacerbated by mass displacement of Hela communities caused by the quake.
Police said five people were killed last week in the area, scuppering an attempt at peace talks between warring tribes.
But unrest is not restritced to Tari.
The head of PNG's Emergency Disaster Restoration Team, Bill Hamblin, says his team cannot reach various parts of Hela due to civil unrest.
"Although the UN tried to go into Komo the other day; we've had the United Church people who went in there attacked; we've had the UN turned back by the security forces because of the helicopters being stoned, etc etc. So that security situation has to be addressed before you can bring in relief."
Mr Hossain says the situation is extremely complex, there is very little communication with the Province due to ongoing unrest and health and welfare of the people is being seriously threatened.
He says the PNG government and aid agencies need more support, and is calling for more global attention on the plight of the quake affected people.
"The situation is really grave in terms of the deprivation in terms of the services and the lives of the people. So we've been actually working at the regional and global level to raise this issue. We have recently had a global press conference organised in Geneva to raise the issue that we need to talk about Papua New Guinea."
The head of World Vision in PNG Heather McLeod says her agency made a decision not to work in Hela Province and is focussing on providing non food items and improving water supplies in the Southern Highlands in partnership with a local church.
"So the Evangelical Church has schools and health posts and a strong network in that particular area which is why we chose to work in the Southern Highlands which is also equally affected. So there is some work going on in the Hela, in Hela but it's certainly restricted because of the violence that's there at the moment."
Heather McLeod says the coordination of relief by various aid agencies, churches and the government took a while to get going due to the challenges of poor communication links and the remoteness of the villages.
She says it's important to aim for full geographical coverage for those affected to avoid duplication of aid and gaps where people make assumptions of a response.
Ms McLeod says the overall response is now moving from the emergency phase to the rehabilitation phase.
"So looking at having a water tank rather than only water tablets, the aquatabs. Getting it for the health posts in particular. Because of course if you don't have water in a health post you can't provide good health care. And also providing good water and sanitation for the schools."
Dr Hamblin says so far the disaster response has been as good as can be expected.
"I think it's been successful in the sense that we haven't had anyone else die, we haven't had anyone die of starvation, we haven't had any disease outbreaks, all that's been kept under control. So in terms of those performance indicators it's been good. But, can it be done better? Yeah a lot better yeah. I've put a paper to the Prime Minister this morning on issues with the emergency response, what can be improved the next time."
As the unrest and opportunism complicate the disaster response, James Marape, the MP for Tari, Hela's capital, has appealed for calm among people in his electorate.
Having last week seen off a court petition against his 2017 election win due to allegations of bribery, Mr Marape says he will now focus on forging peace in Hela and helping with relief efforts in the province.
This is Jenny Meyer.
