Papua New Guinea was hit by a terrible landslide overnight from Thursday to Friday. More than six villages, located in the province of Enga in the center of the archipelago, were hit by this “unprecedented disaster”, said Peter Ipatas, the governor of the region.
The death toll has so far reached three, but the authorities fear that the number of victims could be much higher. According to Steven Kandai, a local official, it will take days or even weeks to arrive at a definitive assessment. According to the Red Cross, between 100 and 500 people could have been injured or killed in the disaster. “I extend my sincere condolences to the families of those who lost their lives,” announced James Marape, the country’s Prime Minister.
A mountain that suddenly collapses
As night fell on Friday, first responders were still trying to dig possible survivors out of the ground using a backhoe and tools. A rescue team, made up of doctors, soldiers, police and members of UN agencies, was dispatched to the scene to assess the damage and treat the injured. This team will help “with rescue operations, the search for bodies and the reconstruction of infrastructure”, detailed the Prime Minister in a press release. But emergency services may take time, perhaps two days, to reach this isolated area.
According to witnesses, there was a large landslide and the mountain collapsed suddenly while the residents were still sleeping. The houses were “completely destroyed”, notes Steven Kandai. Others “heard a loud sound of falling rocks and ran away.” Unfortunately, some fleeing victims were killed along the way by falling trees and rock slides.
A second disaster in less than two months
According to Nickson Pakea, president of the Chamber of Commerce and Industry of the gold mining town of Porgera, close to the area affected by the landslide, up to 300 people were present in the village of Kaokalam, victim of the landslide , at the time of the disaster. In this village, “it seems that more than 100 houses were buried,” said Vincent Pyati, president of a local association. “We do not yet know how many people were in these houses,” he noted.
Located south of the equator, this region of the globe is not spared from weather conditions. It is regularly subject to violent rainfall. Last March, more than twenty people had already lost their lives during a landslide in a neighboring province.