MEDIA RELEASE 13 APRIL 2026
Mission Aviation Fellowship is responding in areas of the Autonomous Region of Bougainville (AROB) after it was hit by severe Tropical Cyclone Maila.
The Autonomous Bougainville Government (ABG) Disaster Department has requested that MAF commence flights today to transport an assessment team, along with food and medicine, to Nissan Island. The team includes District Coordinator Sylvia Renetsi, Community Government Manager Marceline Butu, Health Extension Officer Chris Vagelo and other passengers. A second flight is planned to deliver additional food and medical supplies, after which the team will return on Tuesday. More flights are planned to follow immediately afterwards.
Despite the cyclone’s reduced intensity, the affected areas of Bougainville, particularly the western side, remain in need of emergency assistance. Heavy rains, flooding and downed trees have cut road access to Arawa, Siwai, and Buin. Movement by sea is assessed as high risk due to the weather. There are floods, landslides and washed-out roads.
MAF’s team in Bougainville has responded with an aircraft arriving from Goroka on Sunday, due to commence operations today.
John Woodberry, who leads MAF’s work in Bougainville, said the organisation had reacted quickly to help.
“We are glad to be making use of MAF’s global disaster response capabilities to support communities in crisis here in Bougainville,” he said. “We’re grateful to our colleagues in Mount Hagen and Goroka for their swift response to the situation here, which involved assigning a pilot and an aircraft to survey the damage and transport the right people to the places in need of assistance.”
The plane is expected to conduct survey flights to assess the damage and carry out shuttle flights for the authorities, response teams, assessment teams and emergency donor supplies between Aropa, Buin, and Nissan. The MAF aircraft can enable movement where there is no road access and boat travel is unsafe.
Jonathan Ainui, MAF’s Flight Operations and Liaison Officer in Bougainville, said: “It’s great to be working with response teams and the ABG who are linked to remote airstrips, helping them to prepare for receiving assistance while the roads are impassable.”
MEDIA CONTACT DETAILS: For more information contact John Woodberry [email protected] or Tracy Norbury [email protected]