Race to rescue villagers trapped after landslide
Emergency responders are rushing to reach villages devastated by a massive landslide in the remote Enga province of Papua New Guinea, where the death toll could be significant.
According to Care Australia, a swift-response team composed of medical and military personnel has successfully reached the isolated landslide site. However, challenging terrain and road damage are impeding rescue efforts. The primary highways are blocked, rendering the area accessible only by helicopter.
The landslide, which occurred around 03:00 local time on Friday, buried hundreds of homes in the Enga highlands, located in the northern part of the island nation in the southwest Pacific. The exact number of people trapped under the debris remains uncertain.
Care Australia expressed concern about the potentially disproportionate death toll, despite the area’s sparse population.
Enga province MP Amos Akem, citing ground reports, stated that the landslide engulfed over 300 individuals and 1,182 residences. However, rescue endeavors have been hindered by a blocked road linking the affected Yambali village and the provincial capital, Wabag, which is approximately 50 km (31 miles) away.
UN official Mr. Aktoprak, speaking to the media, described the affected area as spanning three to four football fields. Yambali village, housing 3,895 people, was hit by the disaster, sparing only some houses. Nonetheless, considering the magnitude of the calamity, the death toll may surpass 100.
Rescue operations face further complications due to concerns about additional landslides. Mr. Aktoprak emphasized the ongoing movement of the land, making it perilous for rescue personnel to operate.
Residents from surrounding areas have described how trees and debris from a collapsed mountainside buried parts of the community, leaving it isolated.
Footage from the scene shows locals pulling bodies from beneath rubble and trees as they traverse the terrain, covered by giant boulders and uprooted trees.
A resident from a nearby village said that when he arrived at the scene of the landslide, “there was no houses [left]”.
Speaking to Australian broadcaster ABC, Dominic Lau said it was all “just flat with soil”.
“There was nothing, just rocks and soil… there were no people and there were no houses to see,” Mr Lau added.
Enga’s governor Peter Ipatas told AFP as many as “six villages” had been affected by the landslide, which he described as an “unprecedented natural disaster”.
Enga is more than 600km by road from the country’s capital, Port Moresby.
Papua New Guinea’s Red Cross Society earlier said an emergency response team made up of officials from the provincial governor’s office, police, defense forces, and local NGOs had been deployed to the site.
Speaking on Friday, Papua New Guinea’s Prime Minister James Marape said authorities were responding to the disaster.
He said the government is working with local officials to provide “relief work, recovery of bodies, and reconstruction of infrastructure”.
