By David Rising
Papua New Guinea ordered thousands of residents to evacuate from the path of a still-active landslide on Tuesday after parts of a mountain collapsed burying at least 2000 people, according to government estimates.
Officials said the odds of finding survivors were slim, even as relief teams have trickled into the difficult-to-access northern Enga region since Friday.
Villagers search through a landslide in Yambali village, in the Highlands of Papua New Guinea.Credit: AP
Heavy equipment and aid have been slow to arrive because of the treacherous terrain and tribal unrest in the remote area, forcing the military to escort convoys of relief teams. Residents have been using shovels and their bare hands to search for survivors.
“The landslide area is very unstable. When we’re up there, we’re regularly hearing big explosions where the mountain is, there are still rocks and debris coming down,” Enga province disaster committee chairperson Sandis Tsaka said.
Military personnel had set up checkpoints and were helping move residents to evacuation centres, he said. The United Nations said six bodies had been recovered so far and the total affected population, including those needing possible evacuation and relocation, was estimated at 7849.
An International Organisation for Migration official said that a bridge had collapsed on the main highway to the site, forcing aid convoys to take a longer route.
Australia, which is PNG’s nearest neighbour, sent a disaster response team that was scheduled to arrive on Tuesday. It includes a geohazard assessment team and drones to help map the site.
Papua New Guinea regularly experiences landslides and natural disasters that rarely make headlines, but this is one of the most devastating it has seen in recent years.
The government has estimated that more than 2000 people were buried in the landslide which occurred early Friday, sharply higher than the UN figure of 670 possible deaths, and some local officials’ much lower estimates.
Villagers search landslide debris in the village of Yambali, PNG.Credit: International Organisation for Migration
Here’s a look at some of the challenges facing rescuers:
Difficult access, restive population
The village of at least 4000, but believed to be substantially larger, is in a mountainous and forested part of Enga province. It’s located alongside a winding highway to the town of Porgera and a mine that has produced billions of dollars of gold but whose security personnel have been accused by human rights groups of abuses.
The highway was covered by the landslide, effectively cutting off Porgera and the other villages past Yambali from the provincial capital of Wabag, 60 kilometres from where the disaster occurred.
Emergency responders have brought aid in from Wabag, but have had to make the final 200 metres of the journey by foot over the rubble-covered highway.
An injured person is carried on a stretcher to seek medical assistance after a landslide in Yambali village, PNG.Credit: AP
Rescuers using only shovels and picks attempted for more than two days to clear six to eight metres worth of debris covering an area the size of three or four football fields, until an excavator donated by a local builder arrived on Sunday.
Survivors have been hesitant to allow heavy machinery to be used, however, because they do not want the bodies of their relatives harmed, said Aktoprak. The donated excavator was driven away on Monday, though it’s not clear whether that was related to locals’ objections or for another reason, he said.
Military engineers with additional heavy equipment are being transported to the disaster scene and were expected to arrive by Wednesday.
Deadly local feuds are complicating the response
Longtime tribal warfare in Enga province has not relented despite the disaster, meaning that soldiers have had to provide security for the aid convoys heading towards Yambali.
At least 26 men were killed in an ambush in February, and eight more died in a clash between two rival clans on Saturday in a longstanding dispute that’s unrelated to the landslide. About 30 homes and five retail businesses were burnt down in the fighting, officials said.
Convoys have only been able to travel by daylight due to the security risks and, with a two-hour drive each way, their time on site has been seriously restricted, Aktoprak said in a phone interview from Port Moresby, the country’s capital.
Approximately 25 people from the UN, other agencies and the military have been making the daily journey. On Monday, they reported seeing burning houses and men armed with machetes along the way, Aktoprak said.
Grieving villagers in the devastated the village of Yambali.Credit: AP
Emergency crews also face the threat of an ongoing natural disaster as the earth continues to shift in the disaster zone.
The debris is getting increasingly waterlogged from three streams covered by the landslide, making it dangerous to work on and increasing the possibility it could slide farther downhill. Communities below have already been evacuated, Aktoprak said.
“We have a situation that is getting worse and worse every moment,” he said.
Australian help
Prime Minister Anthony Albanese said he had spoken to his PNG counterpart, James Marape, and informed him Australians were grieving alongside his people.
“Locals have described it as an exploding bomb and rushing towards homes like a sea wave. We do not know the full extent of it. Tragically there are reports it could be up to 2000 people buried beneath the mud and the rubble. All Papua New Guineans are suffering in the wake of this terrible disaster, and we held them in our hearts,” Albanese said.
Defence Minister Richard Marles said “we are working on transporting 750 family-sized shelters to the site. There is more that we are seeking to do. But, to be frank, part of the issue here is about not overwhelming a system which is currently under a lot of stress”.
AP, Nine
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