Between December 1983 and July 1992, Lae experienced two major flood and mudslide disasters.
In both cases, hundreds of people lost their homes.
The 1983 floods remain the worst since the establishment of the town in the late 1920s.
These floods left hundreds of people homeless particularly those living along the banks of the Bumbu River.
Many houses were damaged or completely destroyed and hundreds of people at the Five Mile settlement along the Highland highway were also affected by mud-slides.

Meanwhile, provincial and national leaders met to find solutions to the problem of how to resettle people displaced by the disaster and to the north of the city a block of land was allocated, planned and developed for the resettlement of the disaster victims.
This 'Tensiti' settlement was developed in 1992 on the former Serafini plantation with sealed road networks, water and electricity
Between December 1983 and July 1992, Lae experienced two major flood and mudslide disasters. In both cases, hundreds of people lost their homes. The 1983 floods remain the worst since the establishment of the town in the late 1920s. These floods left hundreds of people homeless particularly those living along the banks of the Bumbu River. Many houses were damaged or completely destroyed and hundreds of people at the Five Mile settlement along the Highland highway were also affected by mud-slides.
Meanwhile, provincial and national leaders met to find solutions to the problem of how to resettle people displaced by the disaster and to the north of the city a block of land was allocated, planned and developed for the resettlement of the disaster victims. This 'Tensiti' settlement was developed in 1992 on the former Serafini plantation with sealed road networks, water and electricity
Tent City, Papua New Guinea