Nearly 300 people buried in massive landslides in Enga province
A massive landslide struck Papua New Guinea’s Enga province early on Friday, burying large swathes of land in rubble and mud. Reuters reported that the initial site of contact was a remote village located in the northern part of the country.
Over 50 homes were buried in Kaokalam village when the landslide hit around 3 a.m. GMT+5. “Many were still asleep in their homes,” eyewitness and survivor Ninga Role told Reuters in a phone call. He sadly informed his brother and cousin that they were also buried by the landslide.
The village is located in Papua New Guinea’s Enga province, about 370 miles (600 km) north of the capital, Port Moresby. International earthquake research organizations have recorded four large earthquakes in the last 48 hours, with magnitudes of 5.1, 5.2, 4.7, and 4.7.
Role recalled that when one of the villagers tried to get his wife and children out of the house, he was buried along with his extended family. Social media footage recorded after the incident shows the landscape covered with large rocks and uprooted trees, with no signs of civilization.
“It’s almost impossible; the area covered by the landslide is large, with rocks and trees everywhere,” Role said. “It’s very difficult to get them out.”
In the nearby village of Yambali, a similar scene unfolded. When villager Dominic Lau arrived at the landslide-affected village at dawn, he found that “there were no houses left standing; there was nothing, just rocks and soil… there were no people or houses in sight.”
The village, located approximately 50 km (31 miles) from the provincial capital of Enga Province, Wabag, was home to over 3,895 people. Now, there was nothing left to indicate that it had once been inhabited.
Govt. dispatches disaster management teams to aid
Prime Minister James Marape had said in the early hours of the disaster, “We are sending in disaster officials, the PNG Defense Force, and the Department of Works and Highways to meet provincial and district officials in Enga and also start relief work, the recovery of bodies, and the reconstruction of infrastructure.”
Amos Akem, a MP of the MP, informed the Guardian that, based on current ground estimates, “the landslide buried more than 300 people and 1,182 houses.”.
He further stated that the blockage of the main road connecting the region with the capital is causing additional delays in rescue efforts. Rescue teams are employing pickaxes and shovels to clear large chunks of displaced ground in their rescue operations.
Video shows aftermath of deadly landslide in Papua New Guinea: Dozens of people are feared dead after a “massive” landslide swept through a village in northern Papua New Guinea. https://t.co/f9pZ67sM6d pic.twitter.com/1RX1nFiD14
— JPNWMN (@JPNWMN) May 24, 2024
Enga’s governor, Peter Ipatas, informed AFP that as many as six villages were affected by the natural disaster, which struck without any warning. He said, “The ground is still moving at times, so heavy equipment cannot be used to recover people buried under the rubble.”
Many international humanitarian agencies have started sending rescue teams to the area as they assess the severe scale of the disaster. The Red Cross Society of Papua New Guinea has also dispatched emergency response teams, along with disaster management officials, the provincial governor, defense forces, police, and local NGOs.
Papua New Guinea’s gold mines are under threat of further landslides
The island, which is divided into Papua New Guinea (a sovereign nation) and the Indonesian provinces of Papua and West Papua, is home to some of the world’s largest and most productive gold mines.
While mining operations contribute significantly to the economy of Papua New Guinea, experts worry that they may exacerbate the already worsening seismic tensions in the region.
The landslides on Friday also affected a section of highway near the Porgera gold mine, operated by Barrick Gold Corporation through Barrick Niugini Ltd., a joint venture with China’s Zijin Mining.
A company spokesperson told Reuters, “The extent of the damage is still being assessed, so it is too early to determine the impact, if any, on the operations of the Porgera Gold Mine, which is 100 km away.”
