Minister Tuke condemns vandalism of Volcano Observatory Equipment on PNG's East New Britain

PNG  Minister for Mining, Johnson Tuke, says he is concerned with the continuous vandalism of State properties under the care of the Rabaul Volcanological Observatory in East New Britain Province.

“I condemn the actions of these few people in the community who are conducting themselves in this disgusting manner and destroying thousands of Kina worth of properties of the State,’’ the Minister said referring to a recent Post Courier article published on Thursday, 19th December 2018 regarding the theft of instruments from the Matupit Station.

The Rabaul Volcanological Observatory is a very important function of the Department of Mineral Policy and Geo-Hazards Management and a responsibility of the Minister for Mining, who has visited its operations on several occasions.
“The RVO ensures that there is no loss of life in times of dangerous natural disasters nationwide such as the eruption of volcanoes and for people to go around destroying and stealing such crucial equipment is just utter stupidity,” said a visibly unhappy Minister.

Minister Tuke said the very instruments and equipment people were stealing were needed to monitor and record data that would inform the scientists and specialists at RVO to determine when such life-threatening events were taking place and how to go about saving their lives and that of their children and elders.

The Minister called on the East New Britain Provincial Government and the people of the province to take ownership of such State properties and take good care of them because in the long run the RVO will continue to serve and protect the lives of millions of people across the country.