As Papua New Guinea faces worsening drought, a past disaster could save lives

For more than one million people across rural Papua New Guinea, 1997was a year that will never be forgotten. Drought and frost caused hundreds of deaths: in some very remote communities, the death rate climbed to seven in 100 people. Crops failed; schools, jails and major mines were forced to close as water supplies ran dry; and there were outbreaks of diseases including diarrhoea, malaria and typhoid.

On Monday, PNG’s Prime Minister Peter O’Neill warned that this year and 2016 could be even worse.

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Source: The Conversation