Landslide in Papua New Guinea claims hundreds of lives

Unstable debris and rubble hampered search and rescue efforts in rural Papua New Guinea on Saturday, a day after a massive landslide buried villages and killed at least three people. Local authorities said the death toll was likely in the several hundred.

Nearly 4,000 people live in the three villages affected by the landslide early Friday, said Sandis Tsaka, the provincial administrator of Enga, which includes the affected area. He said the death toll was likely high because the landslide hit a densely populated area that is also a busy traffic corridor.

“Our people will see it as biblical in scale,” he said. “We need all the help and support we can get to deal with this humanitarian disaster, the scale of which we have never seen in this part of the world.”

According to Mr Tsaka, three bodies were recovered from the rubble on Friday and five people, including a child, were treated for their injuries.

The disaster struck at about 3 a.m. and took most residents by surprise. Huge boulders, some larger than shipping containers, crashed down. At least 60 houses were buried under up to six meters of rubble, Mr. Tsaka said. At least a 150-meter stretch of the Porgera Highway, the main artery connecting the area, was flooded, he said.

The landslide buried an area the size of three to four football fields, said Serhan Aktoprak, head of mission for the International Organization for Migration’s office in Papua New Guinea. After several delays, an aid convoy reached the affected villages on Saturday afternoon to deliver tarpaulins and water, he said.

The villages are predominantly inhabited by subsistence farmers and are located in the highlands of Papua New Guinea, an island nation in the Pacific Ocean north of Australia. The province has been hit by escalating deadly clashes between tribal groups in recent months.

The aid convoy was held up by a blockade by one of the groups involved in the conflict and was only allowed through after the military intervened, Mr Aktoprak said. This slowed down the aid effort at a critical moment. Daylight hours are shortening in the southern hemisphere, with the sun setting shortly before 6 p.m., he noted.

“With every minute that passes, our chances of reaching them alive essentially diminish,” he said.

Mr Tsaka, the provincial official, said minor landslides were common in the area and the weather had been consistently wet in recent months.

Heavy rain is expected to continue in the region in the coming days, which will further complicate rescue efforts. International organizations and the country’s defense forces have arrived to help, Tsaka said.

President Biden said in a statement Friday that the United States stands ready to assist in rescue and recovery efforts. Australia’s Foreign Minister Penny Wong also said in a statement that her country stands ready to respond to requests for assistance.

Vincent Pyati, chairman of the local Community Development Association, said the area was a transport hub where many people from remote areas came to use public transport overnight, a popular mode of transport that was likely to drive up the number of victims. He said there was also a drinking club there that was popular with people from across the district.

It is estimated that at least 300 people were killed, Mr Pyati said.