Past natural disasters, including volcanic eruptions are there for Papua New Guinea to learn from and adjust or make amends.

Whether it is relocating or building a great wall, PNG has had its fair share of natural disasters, especially noting that the country sits on the Pacific Ring of Fire.

On January 5, 2018, the dormant Kadovar volcano on Kadovar Island in the Wewak Islands local level government in East Sepik, came to life.

Kadovar makes up the Schouten Island which includes Biem, Vokeo, Vokeo, Koil, Wei and Ruprup, all in line reaching down to Manam Island in Madang.

Manam Island in the far north Western Cape of mainland Madang Province conjoins the Schouten Islands of East Sepik, and all are historically volcanic Islands.

A week after ash fall bellowed atop Kadovar, the islanders who inhabit one of the six volcanic islands discovered Schouten Isles, were evacuated and resettled at Dandan village off the coast of the Turubu LLG of Wewak.

The disaster lessons are there, even going back to 1951 when 3000 people were killed from the Mt Lamington eruption, or when more than 2000 people perished in the Aitape Tsunami, or even 120,000 Papua New Guineas affected by the 1997 drought, the numbers tallying up to 152,000 affected by the 1994 Rabaul twin volcanic eruption, is manifestation of PNG being prone to disasters.

Recently, a week after the Manam Island eruption of August 25, 2018, I visited Manam Island and observed what the people had to say and from then on, made my conclusions.

Recalling the aftermath of Kadovar and now Manam, I picked out the uncertainties by the inhabitants of these two islands as standing out the most. “Are we going to be resettled and carry on with life from our original homes?

“How much are we losing as a result of the disaster and being relocated?”

Manam Islanders now residing on the island will have to relocate away from the island, and that is the reality that is yet to be fully digested.

It’s no secret and the islanders know very well. Even the Kadovar islanders totaling more than 700 people all agreed to be resettled as their island is no more the home it once was.

For Manam islanders, the question of being resettled has been tried and look what happened?

The last populous resettlement exercise for Manam islanders in 2004 turned out to be the creation of unwanted settlements and not life fulfilling, thus forcing some to return to the island.

Not because they were chased away but because the authorities decided to sit them out there in Bogia, shut the door on them while the poor people struggled to make ends meet.

Current Prime Minister Peter O’Neill described the long delay to the Manam Island permanent resettlement as “Madang politicking”.

Mr O’Neill appealed for politics to be put aside, encouraging unity to properly resettle the displaced islanders.

Madang Governor Peter Yama as well supported the call to join hands and work together in this time of disaster. And while the talk of proper and permanent resettlement is now paramount for the Manam islanders, which has been supported by PM O’Neill with the announcement of speeding up the Manam Resettlement Authority this week with candidates already submitted to the Cabinet, the PM has given his assurance of the undertaking to be completed before the year ends.

Mr O’Neill also promised a further K3 million to assist the plight of the displaced islanders and the Cabinet will have deliberated the appointment of the Manam Resettlement Authority in the start of the week.

He as well announced an immediate government approach to include more funding allocation in the 2019 national budget to assist their resettlement.

He said before the year ends, his government will make available land on mainland Madang and closer to town for the islanders to resettle.

He promised a school, as well as a jetty on Manam Island within this year.

“Before the year ends, the Manam Resettlement Authority must be formed,” Mr O’Neill said.

Governor Yama wants the authority to be headed by a non-Madang to avoid the in-house “politicking”.

Back on Manam Island, I asked a few men their reason for returning to Manam Island and they said they couldn’t survive at the care centre.

Returning to Manam was so that they could do gardening and go fishing without being pointed at or shown the boundary to their territory. So the question of permanent resettlement for Manam Islanders still lingers with uncertainties given the 14 years experiences of the Bogia resettlement.

Now Mr O’Neill has promised a new resettlement plan on a new land to be made available by the government.

One more thing that I figured out is that the Manam Islanders have a very unique way of living on the island that is very ordered, and guided by the society of the Kukurais.

One does not need a more precise explanation of what a Kukurai is.

Turn up on Manam Island being an outsider and it is obvious there to welcome you is the Kukurai. It’s not the women that do the talking, but the one man or men, who take the lead when it comes to taking responsibilities.

The Kukurai is the chief or chiefs of each of the villages on Manam Island.

It was plain clear that the team that I joined to travel to Manam knew exactly who their contact point on the ground would be, and it would be the Kukurai who would make sure that our visit was welcoming to a deserved purpose. Manam Island, which is three hours by boat from Bogia and 45 minutes by helicopter from Madang, is ideally situated and accessible to basic essential services, yet the Kukurai plays a significant role as the focal point of disseminating information.

Translators and the process of translating the spoken words from an outsider to Manam Islanders is a common practice of the Kukurai and in the end, the whole community, village or villages speaks or interprets the same story.

Whatever the story is, either that Manam erupted and the ongoing eruptions is folklore, the lesson learnt and the writing on the wall is clear and has been spoken by the Kukurais.

They want a new Manam away from what is now Kolang and Dangale or Bokure village, including the rest of the other villages.

The most affected villages in the recent eruption include Kolang, Dangale and Bokure who have sought refuge in the temporary resettlements in the villages of Zogari, Dugulava, Waya and Madauli.

Baliua, Boda, Kuluguma, Yasa and Boisa Island have only been affected by ash fall, as is the rest of Manam Island.

Manam islanders affected in the recent volcano eruption August 25 have nothing more in mind than to relocate to a new home but with foremost regard to the past failures.