Sandaun Province

Sandaun Province (formerly West Sepik Province) is the northwesternmost province of Papua New Guinea. It covers an area of 35,920 km2 (13868 m2) and has a population of 248,411 (2011 census). The capital is Vanimo. In July 1998 the area surrounding the town Aitape was hit by an enormous tsunami caused by a Magnitude 7.0 earthquake which killed over 2,000 people. The five villages along the west coast of Vanimo towards the International Border are namely; Lido, Waromo, Yako, Musu and Wutung.

Name
Sandaun is a Tok Pisin word derived from English “sun down,” since the province is located in the west of the country, where the sun sets.

Districts and LLGs
There are four districts in the province. Each district has one or more Local Level Government (LLG) areas. For census purposes, the LLG areas are subdivided into wards and those into census units

District	District Capital	LLG Name
Aitape-Lumi District	Aitape	East Aitape Rural
		East Wapei Rural
		West Aitape Rural
		West Wapei Rural
Nuku District	Nuku	Mawase Rural (Nuku)
		Palmai Rural
		Yangkok Rural
		Maimai Wanwan Rural
Telefomin District	Telefomin	Namea Rural
		Oksapmin Rural
		Telefomin Rural
		Yapsie Rural
Vanimo-Green River District	Vanimo	Amanab Rural
		Bewani-Wutung-Onei Rural
		Green River Rural
		Vanimo Urban
		Walsa Rural

Provincial leaders
The province was governed by a decentralised provincial administration, headed by a Premier, from 1978 to 1995. Following reforms taking effect that year, the national government reassumed some powers, and the role of Premier was replaced by a position of Governor, to be held by the winner of the province-wide seat in the National Parliament of Papua New Guinea

By TUBS – This vector image includes elements that have been taken or adapted from this file:, CC BY-SA 3.0, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=16875325