![This photo taken on May 26, 2024 by the International Organization for Migration shows people digging at the site of a landslide in Yambali village, Maip Mulitaka region, Enga province, Papua -New Guinea.](https://img.lemde.fr/2024/05/26/0/0/2700/1891/664/0/75/0/756f033_5595643-01-06.jpg)
This is a new, much heavier toll. More than two thousand people were buried in a massive landslide in a remote Papua New Guinea village last week, according to a letter from the Oceania country’s authorities to the United Nations (UN) seen by Agence France-Presse.
“The landslide buried more than two thousand people alive and caused significant destruction”, the country’s national disaster center told the UN office in the capital, Port Moresby. The disaster occurred during the night from Thursday to Friday around 3 a.m. in the province of Enga, in the center of the countrytaking by surprise the inhabitants of a village who were buried under piles of mud and rubble while they slept.
Initially, humanitarian organizations and local authorities feared that between one hundred and three hundred people had died in the disaster. The estimated number of victims had already been raised to 670 this weekend, when rescuers realized that the village hit by the landslide had more inhabitants than expected.
The landslide caused “significant destruction of buildings and food gardens and had a major impact on the country’s economy”indicates the disaster management center. “The situation remains unstable as the landslide continues to move slowly, posing a constant danger to rescue teams and survivors”warn the authorities in their letter.
The scale of the disaster required “immediate and concerted actions on the part of all stakeholders”, including the military and national and regional stakeholders. The agency appealed for help from the international community, asking the United Nations to inform Papua New Guinea’s development partners “and other international friends” of the situation.
Serhan Aktoprak, head of the UN migration agency based in Port Moresby, previously said the rescuers were engaged in “a race against time” to find survivors. Emergency services work in dangerous conditions, particularly due to “stones (which) continue to fall and move the ground”specified Mr. Aktorprak.
“To make matters worse, groundwater flows under the debris, transforming the ground surface into a slide”he added, specifying that around 250 houses located nearby were evacuated as a precautionary measure. “This could trigger a new slide” field, warned the UN official, and represents a “serious risk” for rescuers and residents.
Arrival of help delayed by tribal violence
Heavy equipment and excavators were expected to arrive in the disaster area but their arrival was delayed by tribal violence that broke out along the only access route, Aktoprak said. “Many houses are burning and others are emitting smoke. Women and children have been displaced, and all the young people and men in the region are armed with bush knives”, he said, citing a report of an aid convoy trying to reach the disaster site. However, this violence is not “landslide-related”he clarified.
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Residents of nearby villages help dig up the bodies using spades and agricultural tools. A nearby mining company, New Porgera Limited, agreed to provide mechanical excavators to assist rescuers and clear roads.
For nearby residents, this slide must have been triggered by the heavy rains that fell on the region in recent weeks. According to the World Bank, Papua New Guinea has one of the wettest climates in the world, and heavy rainfall regularly hits its humid highland regions.
According to scientists, variation in rainfall patterns due to climate change is increasing the risk of landslides in the country. In March, at least 23 people died in a landslide in a neighboring province.