“Ontong Java is an outlying Island of Malaita Province, with an entire size of 1,400 km sq. and has only 12 km sq. of land, spread out over hundreds of low-lying Islands.
“However, the dawn of COVID-19 brings gloom to the islands.
“An influx of people to the village is putting a strain on the islands natural resources and the elders are concerned.
“Chief Kei said people are starting to complain as their stocks and supplies are starting to run out.
“We shared our food from the gardens with our relatives coming from town”, Chief Kei said.
“Kei said government had assisted by distributing food to their island to which they are very happy.
“However he said government should also send observers to Lord Howe to assess the flow and distribution of the food and how people can be able to sustain themselves if the country is to go into a total lockdown, due to Covid19.
“I believe government should allocate some of their people to come and asses the food storage and how people can sustain food for the next four months if we are faced with the threat of Covid19."
Copyright @ 2020 Solomon Times on Line.
