UN agency says survivors ‘unlikely’ from Papua New Guinea landslide
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Locals digging in the rubble to search for missing relatives at the landslide site in Tuliparo village, Porgera district, Papua New Guinea, on May 26.
PHOTO: EPA-EFE
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Port Moresby – It is now “very unlikely” that more victims of a deadly landslide in Papua New Guinea will be found alive, a UN official told AFP on May 28.
“It is not a rescue mission; it is a recovery mission,” said advocacy and communication specialist Niels Kraaie of the United Nations Children’s Fund Papua New Guinea office.
“It is very unlikely they will have survived.”
Papua New Guinea says some 2,000 people are feared buried in a landslide that destroyed a remote highland community in the early hours of May 24.
With rescue and relief efforts hampered by the remote location, a severed road link, heavy rainfall and nearby tribal violence, Enga provincial administrator Sandis Tsaka warned that the disaster could yet worsen.
About 7,900 people from remote villages are being evacuated, with the ground around the landslide still moving.
“The tragedy is still active,” Mr Tsaka said. “Every hour, you can hear rock breaking – it is like a bomb or gunshot and the rocks keep falling down.”
He added: “This was an area heavily populated with homes, businesses, churches and schools. It has been completely wiped out. It is the surface of the moon – it is just rocks.”
UN Development Programme official Nicholas Booth said many people have refused to evacuate, holding out hope that their loved ones will be found.
The immediate focus is the delivery of aid and clearing up the affected area, he told AFP.
In the long term, geological surveys will be needed to determine how many people will need to be permanently relocated, Mr Booth said.
“This landslide has blocked the road westward, so not only are there challenges in accessing the village itself, but it does mean the communities beyond that are also cut off.”
The isolated communities, with as many as 30,000 people, have enough supplies for the coming weeks but the situation could worsen in the coming months, he said.
Police and defence forces aim to reach the site on May 28 and cordon off the most dangerous areas, officials said.
Aid agencies are also trying to get in food, clean water, health supplies and education resources. AFP
