Hundreds Killed In Papua New Guinea’s Landslide

By Stefan J. Bos, Chief International Correspondent Worthy News

PORT MORESBY (Worthy News) – Rescue efforts continued Sunday as the death toll of Papua New Guinea’s massive landslide in a remote village rose to 670, U.N. officials said.

Residents in Kaokalam village in Enga Province, about 600 kilometers (373 miles) northwest of the capital, Port Moresby, initially found the bodies of more than 100 people.

But the death toll quickly increased as the extent of the disaster became clear, with many rushing to aid the South Pacific nation north of Australia.

The U.N.’s International Organization for Migration (IOM) on Sunday increased its estimate of the death toll to more than 670 as emergency responders and traumatized relatives gave up hope that any survivors would now be found.

The agency based its death toll estimates on information provided by officials at Yambali Village in the Enga province, who say more than 150 houses were buried in Friday’s landslide, said Serhan Aktoprak, the chief of IOM’s mission in Papua New Guinea.

“Land is still sliding, rocks are falling, ground soil is cracking due to constant increased pressure, and groundwater is running; thus, the area is posing an extreme risk for everyone,” Aktoprak warned.

HOUSES ABANDONED

More than 250 houses nearby have been abandoned by the inhabitants, who had taken temporary shelter with their relatives and friends, and some 1,250 people have been displaced, according to IOM estimates. “People are using digging sticks, spades, large agricultural forks to remove the bodies buried under the soil,” Aktoprak said.

The IOM said an elementary school, small businesses and stalls, a guesthouse, and a petrol station were also buried.

Elizabeth Laruma, the president of the Porgera Women in Business Association, said earlier that houses were flattened when the side of a nearby mountain gave way.

“It has occurred when people were still asleep in the early hours, and the entire village has gone down,” Laruma told Australian broadcaster ABC. “From what I can presume, it’s about 100-plus people who are buried beneath the ground.”

Social media footage posted by villagers and local media showed people clambering over rocks, uprooted trees, and mounds of dirt, searching for survivors.

Women could be heard weeping in the background, reporters said.

GOLD MINE

The landslide hit a section of highway near the Porgera gold mine, operated by Barrick Gold through Barrick Niugini Ltd, its joint venture with China’s Zijin Mining.

The Porgera Highway remains blocked, IOM said, and the only way to reach the Porgera Gold Mine and other localities cut off from the rest of Enga Province was via helicopter.

The geographic remoteness and the rugged, hilly terrain are reportedly slowing rescue and aid efforts.

These struggles have added to misery for a country where “40 percent of the estimated population of 10.3 million live below the extreme poverty line, and 41 percent of children live in poverty,” according to the United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF).

It wasn’t immediately clear what impact Friday’s landslide had on Christian missionaries working in the country, which shares its only land border with Indonesia to the west and is directly adjacent to Australia.

In other landslides and earthquakes, the mission group World Gospel Mission (WGM) said, several churches were destroyed.

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