More than 2,000 people could be buried alive in Papua New Guinea landslide, authorities say

SYDNEY – Papua New Guinea’s massive landslide three days ago buried more than 2,000 people, the PNG government said on May 27, as treacherous terrain impeded aid and lowered hopes of finding survivors.

The National Disaster Centre gave the new number in a letter to the UN, which had put possible deaths at

more than 670 people

.

The variance reflects the remote site and the difficulty in getting an accurate population estimate. The Pacific island nation’s last credible census was in 2000 and many people live in isolated mountain villages.

Defence Minister Billy Joseph said 4,000 people had been living in the six remote villages in the Maip-Mulitaka area in Enga province, where the landslide occurred in the early hours of May 24 while most were asleep.

More than 150 houses were buried beneath debris almost two storeys high. Rescuers told the local media they heard screams from beneath the earth.

“I have 18 of my family members being buried under the debris and soil that I am standing on, and a lot more family members in the village I cannot count,” resident Evit Kambu told Reuters. “But I cannot retrieve the bodies so I am standing here helplessly.”

More than 72 hours after the landslide, residents are still using spades, sticks and their bare hands to try and shift the debris and reach any survivors. Only five bodies had been found, according to the provincial authority.

Heavy equipment and aid have been slow to arrive due to the remote location, while tribal warfare nearby has forced aid workers to travel in convoys escorted by soldiers and to return to the provincial capital, roughly 60km away, at night.

Eight people were killed and 30 houses were burned down on May 25, a UN agency official said. Aid convoys on May 27 passed the still-smoking remains of houses.

The first excavator reached the site only late on May 25, according to a UN official.

Contact with other parts of the country is difficult due to patchy reception and limited electricity at the site.

Many people are not even sure where their loved ones were when the landslide hit because it is common for residents to stay at the homes of friends and relatives, according to Mr Matthew Hewitt Tapus, a pastor based in Port Moresby whose home village is roughly 20km from the disaster zone.

“It’s not like everyone is in the same house at the same time, so you have fathers who don’t know where their children are, mothers who don’t know where husbands are. It’s chaotic,” he told Reuters by phone.

Mr Joseph said the defence operations chief was sent to the disaster scene within 24 hours with assistance from the Australian Defence Force, and a PNG defence engineering team was on site, as well as a military helicopter for evacuations.

The government has requested a New Zealand Defence Force geotechnical team to assess possibly unstable land nearby, which would make heavy earth-moving equipment dangerous, he said.

The province needs to build capacity for disaster warnings, the minister added, saying the government would rebuild the villages and reopen the main highway to the town and gold mine at Porgera.

Australia announced an initial A$2.5 million (S$2.24 million) aid package late on May 27 and said it would send technical experts to help rescue and recovery.

China, which has been wooing Pacific island nations, also said it would provide assistance.

Rain, unstable ground and flowing water were making it extremely dangerous for residents and rescue teams to clear debris, according to Mr Serhan Aktoprak, the chief of the UN migration agency’s mission in Papua New Guinea.

More than 250 homes have been evacuated, he said, with more than 1,250 people displaced.

Some residents do not want heavy machinery interrupting mourning, the UN official added.

“At this point, people, I think, are realising that the chances are very slim that anyone can basically be taken out alive.” REUTERS