Fly Zibo communities dig channels by hand as drought dries river

Communities in the newly created Fly Zibo local level government [LLG] area of Middle Fly district, Western, are facing a severe humanitarian crisis, forcing residents to manually dig water channels as a 10-week drought continues to dry up major waterways.

All nine wards in Fly Zibo rely entirely on the Fly River and surrounding lagoons for drinking water, food and transport.

However, prolonged dry weather conditions have dropped water levels to critically low levels, closing vital river shortcuts to Obo and Kiunga and turning once-navigable lagoons into mud flats.

Locals say lives are at risk as people are forced to walk long distances to reach the main Fly River channel.

The cost of fuel in the area has surged to K12 per litre, while the movement of essential food and goods has completely stopped.

Island schools across the LLG have been forced to close, although teachers remain in the communities awaiting further direction from provincial education authorities.

“The river that feeds us is dying. We are digging just to find water,” one community member said.

Fly Zibo LLG is currently among the most vulnerable areas in the province, prompting urgent calls for drought mitigation support from both the Western provincial government and the National Government.

Middle Fly acting disaster coordinator Jeremiah James told NBC News that relief supplies would be dispatched immediately, with formal impact assessments to be conducted during distribution.

“The plan from the Disaster Office is that we will not go and do assessments first. We are planning immediate relief supply needs,” James said.