A massive landslide that swept through a remote village in Papua New Guinea three days ago buried more than 2,000 people, the government said on Monday. The National Disaster Centre gave the new number in a letter to the U.N. dated Sunday but released publicly on Monday. It raised the estimated number of those buried to more than double that of a separate U.N. agency, which had put possible deaths at more than 670. The difference reflects the difficulty of getting accurate population estimates in this mountainous nation that sits on the Pacific Ring of Fire and has a patchy census record.
The letter also referred to “major destruction of buildings and food gardens,” underscoring the magnitude of the damage caused by the slide at Yambali in Enga province. Natural disasters have hit This largely rural area hard in recent years. The landslide was triggered at about 3 a.m. Friday, while villagers were sleeping, sweeping away homes and smothering them in debris. Some 150 houses were reportedly buried and abandoned, according to local media reports. In an encouraging sign, a buried couple was rescued from the wreckage of their home early Monday after residents heard their cries for help, local NBC News reported. Johnson and Jacklyn Yandam told the station they were incredibly grateful and called their rescue a miracle.
But a massive amount of debris that is still shifting poses an ongoing danger to villagers trying to dig through it with shovels and sticks and the dozens of volunteers from around the country who have been joining them in the search. Unless the debris is cleared, it could bury more people in a matter of hours, and the mud is wet enough to increase the risk of further rock slips.
An excavator donated by a local builder on Sunday became the first piece of heavy equipment to aid residents in digging by hand. But survivors have been hesitant to allow its use, fearing it could damage their relatives’ bodies, says Serhan Aktoprak, chief of the U.N. migration agency’s mission in PNG. It was unclear if the machine would be used again on Monday.
Besides clearing debris and improving access to the site, the U.N. has been providing food and water and setting up evacuation centers. Families of those missing have been staying with friends and neighbors in a nearby town. But some are losing hope of finding their loved ones.
PNG’s disaster ministry has reportedly appealed for international assistance to deal with the crisis, saying the death toll is expected to rise substantially. It has also asked for help in recovering the bodies of those who have been buried and for the displaced to be resettled in their villages. The U.N. has promised to work with the country’s government to help. PNG is one of Australia’s closest allies and sits on the same Pacific fault line as Japan, making it vulnerable to earthquakes and volcanic eruptions.
