There is no Volcano monitoring system in PNG, says Bird

There is currently no real monitoring system for volcanoes in the country.

East Sepik Governor Allan Bird said this adding there is an important need to prioritize this immediately.

He was speaking on the NBC's Holiday PNG Program this morning (Thursday 18), with regards to the volcanic eruption on Kadovar Island.

"We've got about 6 or 7 volcanoes (in the province).

"They (scientists) say some are dormant, some are extinct.

"None of them have any kind of measuring or detection devices on them.

"We just have to prioritize better and figure out which are the areas we need to pay more attention to.

"Talking to the volcano experts, they told me that they did not pick up Kadovar. Nobody picked up Kadovar.

"It was the villagers themselves.

"We had no system that would have given us some confidence to tell the people on Kadovar to move.

"They themselves figured out something was wrong and they moved.

"If they had not moved, we would be moving a lot of dead bodies right now."

NBC News - Lyanne Togiba