3 Mile, Lae

3 Mile is a suburb of Lae in the Morobe Province, Papua New Guinea.

3 Mile
Suburb
3 Mile Agricultural Training Centre buildings on foothills of Atzera Range
3 Mile
Location in Lae
Coordinates: 6°42′50″S 146°57′11″E
Country Papua New Guinea
ProvinceMorobe Province
DistrictLae District
Time zoneUTC+10 (AEST)

Geography

3 Mile is located 3 miles (4.8 km) from the center of Lae on the Highlands Highway between the foothills of the Atzera Range and the Markham River. The Atzera Range starts at Bugandi and runs adjacent to the Markham River has an elevation of 280 meters above sea level.[1][2]

Anticlines in the vicinity of Lae, such as the Atzera Range and hills near Situm, appear to indicate that the Ramu-Markham Fault (which follows the northern edge of the Markham Valley) changes dip close to the surface from a steep ramp to a shallow fault, breaching the surface south of Lae.[3]

Before the construction of the Highlands Highway, a road in the Atzera foothills connected Nadzab with Lae and a rough trail on the other side of the Atzeras paralleled this road from Lae to Yalu. Jensen's plantation was located in the Markham Valley and the location of battles between Japanese and Australian soldiers. On 10 September the 25th Australian Infantry Brigade moved East from Nadzab towards Lae along the Atzera foothills while the 9th Division approached Lae from the East and on 16 September both units converged on Lae[4]

The Lae Seismic Zone has been identified between the Atzera Range and Situm[5] which has the potential to generate shallow Mw~7.0 earthquakes and landslides around the Atzera Range.[3] The possibility of major landsides in this area has increased as a result of human modification to the natural vegetation cover through clearing and gardening.[6]

The 1983 floods remain the worst natural disaster since the establishment of the town in the late 1920s. Hundreds of people at the Five Mile settlement along the Highland Highway were also affected by mud-slides from the Atzera mountain ranges.[7]

View facing East -front gate of the Lae in Service Training Centre on foothills of Atzera Range

Atzera Hills Project

In 1978 the Human Ecology Programme of the Department of Minerals and Energy, assisted by the UNEP and Unesco (Man and the Biosphere MAB Project 11) and in co-operation with the Lae City Council, instigated the Atzera Hills Project, described as an ecologically sound management system to arrest the rapid deterioration and loss of productive capacity of 600 ha of Atzera Hills.[8]

The Atzera project folded after only three years despite efforts to train and raise awareness on the benefits of charcoal, the uptake in PNG households was minimal.[9]

Heavy rains in 2005 resulted in the Morobe administration highlighting the vulnerability of the city to the weather and recommending that a major rehabilitation program be started immediately to reforest the surrounding hills behind the city to prevent soil erosion. This problem has been exacerbated as a result of the increased number of squatter settlements.[10]

Economy

The 3-Mile breeder unit is the first one established in Lae where work has focused on cross-breeding different varieties of chicken (Tok Pisin|Kakaruk).[11]

The Department of Agriculture & Livestock exists to "enable the increase in agricultural production for domestic consumption and export, thus increasing the well being and contributing to social economic development".[12] [lower-alpha 1] The Education & Training Branch manages the Animal Industry Centre and operates as an In-Service Co-ordination Centre for all courses conducted by the Department.[12] The Animal Industry Centre is a quarantine station, regional store and base for the District Veterinary Officer.[13][14] Theoretical training is given at Animal Industry In-service Training Center and practical work is carried out on cattle, pigs and poultry projects as well as the department's cattle breeding and research station at ERAPS.[15]

Law and Order

In October 2011, a group of teenagers from the Garaina area of Bulolo District engaged in a crime spree lasting three weeks. In retaliation, a gang of 30 men including 3-Mile community leaders retaliated by burning 25 houses belonging to the criminals, resulting in one suspected criminal's death.[16]

In March 2013, a group of men attacked a family during a funeral and set fire to the coffin containing the deceased.[17]

Sport

The 3 Mile Brothers is a rugby league team and a contender in the country's biggest Rugby League Off-season Competition, The Coca Cola Ipatas Cup.[18] [19]

Notes
  1. National Executive Council (NEC) Decision No.157/90

References
  1. "Atzera Range". GeoView. Retrieved 28 February 2014.
  2. "Atzera Range". TravelsRadiate. Archived from the original on 4 March 2014. Retrieved 28 February 2014.
  3. 43rd Association of Surveyors PNG Congress, Lae; Richard Stanaway; Laura Wallace; Zebedee Sombo; Johnson Peter; Trevor Palusi; Ben Safomea; John Nathan (12–15 August 2009). "Lae, a City caught between two plates – 15 years of Deformation Measurements with GPS" (PDF). Focus on Challenges; Society-Space-Surveyors.
  4. Miller (jnr), John. "CHAPTER XI The Markham Valley and the Huon Peninsula". Hyperwar. Retrieved 28 February 2014.
  5. Kulig, Christopher; McCaffrey, Robert; Abers, Geoffrey A.; Letz, Horst (November 1993). "Shallow seismicity of arc-continent collision near Lae, Papua New Guinea". Tectonophysics. 1. 227 (1–4): 81–93. doi:10.1016/0040-1951(93)90088-2.
  6. Tau, Asigau. "Lae – Nabzad Development Plan Using Gis". Secretariat of the Pacific Community. Archived from the original on 5 March 2014. Retrieved 28 February 2014.
  7. KAITILLA, S; YAMBUI, A (1996). "Intervention in PNG: The Case of Lae" (PDF). Disaster Management and Government. 20 (1): 61–63. doi:10.1111/j.1467-7717.1996.tb00515.x. Archived from the original (PDF) on 4 March 2014.
  8. DUBE, V.N. (1983). "FIREWOODCROPPING, FOOD CULTIVATION, AND CONSERVATION PLANTING A THREE-DIMENSIONAL STRATEGY FOR DISPLACED RURAL COMMUNITIES_THE CASE OF THE ATZERA HILLS, LAE, PAPUA NEW GUINEA" (PDF). Mountain Research and Development. Lae City Interim Authority. 3 (4): 422–428. doi:10.2307/3673051. JSTOR 3673051.
  9. Murphy, MEG (2009). What is free about fuelwood? A critique of the value of fuelwood in the rural and squatter settlement households in the Eastern Highlands of Papua New Guinea. PhD thesis, Southern Cross University.
  10. Editorial (7 September 2005). "PNG'S LAE IN NEED OF MAJOR REHABILITATION". Post Courier. Archived from the original on 4 March 2014.
  11. South Pacific Bulletin. 20. South Pacific Commission University of California. 1970. p. 61.
  12. Department of Agriculture and Livestock. "About us". Archived from the original on 2 March 2014. Retrieved 2 March 2014.
  13. Report. the University of California. 1969. p. 22.
  14. Papua New Guinea. Dept. of Agriculture, Stock and Fisheries (1965). Report. p. 22.
  15. World Directory of Schools for Animal Health Assistants. World Health Organization. 1974. p. 97.
  16. Kivia, Haiveta (28 October 2011). "MURDER, MAYHEM TRIGGERS VIGILANTES IN PNG'S LAE – Community up in arms over murderous gang". Post Courier. Archived from the original on 2 March 2014.
  17. medianiuginiEMTV12 (20 March 2013). "Coffin containing deceased burnt during clash". EMTV. YouTube. Retrieved 2 March 2014.
  18. RLSpotlight (23 December 2013). "Coca Cola Ipatas Cup ready for its 15th year".
  19. "Ipatas cup challenge kick starts". PNG Edge. 21 December 2013. Archived from the original on 2 March 2014. Retrieved 2 March 2014.
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