26 May 2024 , 11:39
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A massive landslide devastated a remote village in Papua New Guinea and killed at least 670 people, UN officials have said.
The landslide levelled six villages in Enga province’s Mulitaka region at around 3am on Friday.
Sleepy-eyed and terrified locals woke up to their homes – and loved ones – buried under limestone, mud and trees across a six-mile stretch.
Social media footage showed locals scaling massive rocks, ripped-out trees and mounds of mud while women cried in the background.
The cause of the landslide remains unclear, though locals have chalked it up to a 4.5 magnitude earthquake 65 miles west of the affected region.
The UN migration agency’s mission in the South Pacific island nation said the death toll continues to spiral, having initially been 100 on Friday.
Only six bodies have been recovered so far, including a child, with rescue efforts hampered by rocks said to be the size of shipping containers blocking the Porgera Highway.
The country has not issued an official death toll.
In just Yambali, a village of some 3,900 people at the foot of a mountain, the landslide buried around 300 people and nearly 1,200 homes under rocks and water, the Papa New Guinea newspaper Post-Courier reported citing a local MP.
At least 100 people are feared dead in Kaokalam, about 370 miles northwest of Port Moresby.
Debris crushed thousands of pigs and hundreds of other livestock, Mulitaka provincial authorities say.
Rocks continued to hurtle down Mount Mungalo even hours after the landslide, which have also impacted three streams used for drinking water.
Serhan Aktoprak, head of the International Organization for Migration in Papua New Guinea, said today: ‘The water is running and this is creating a massive risk for everyone involved.’
International humanitarian agency CARE says that in the aftermath of the landslide, more than 4,000 people need aid.
Aktoprak added: ‘Hopes to take the people out alive from the rubble have diminished now.’
Australian foreign minister Penny Wong said the nation, about 340 miles from Papua New Guinea, will assist with recovery efforts.
‘the loss of life and destruction is devastating. As friends and partners, Australia stands ready to assist in relief and recovery efforts,’ she added.
Papua New Guinea was already reeling from flooding the last week that engulfed houses and schools after the Wairia River in the Morobe Province burst its banks.
At least 265 houses including 20 schools were destroyed by floodwater, local newspaper The National Reported, with drinking water polluted and livestock killed.