PORT MORESBY, Papua New Guinea: Papua New Guinea decided on Tuesday to evacuate an estimated 7,900 people from remote villages near the site of a deadly landslide as authorities warned of more slides.
About 2,000 people are already feared buried in the landslide that destroyed the remote mountain community in the early hours of May 24.
With rescue and relief efforts hampered by the remote location, broken road links, heavy rainfall and nearby tribal violence, Enga provincial administrator Sandis Tsaka warned the disaster could worsen.
Tsaka said authorities were trying to coordinate the evacuation of nearly 7,900 people as piles of limestone, clay and rock continued to cut off Mount Mungalo.
“The tragedy is still active. Every hour you can hear rock breaking – it’s like a bomb or a gunshot and the rocks keep falling.”
Satellite images from Monday showed the huge scale of the disaster.
A vast patch of yellow and gray debris can be seen cutting through the green scrub and separating the only road in the region.
For four days and nights, locals slogged through a hellish landscape of meter-deep ground, uprooted trees and car-sized boulders, using little more than shovels and digging sticks.
“It was an area densely populated with houses, businesses, churches and schools, it was completely destroyed. It’s the surface of the moon – it’s just rocks,” Tsaka said.
The Papua New Guinea Defence Force is trying to reach the site using heavy earth-moving equipment.
Overwhelmed authorities in Papua New Guinea held an online emergency meeting with UN agencies and international allies on Tuesday in hopes of kick-starting relief efforts.
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Papua New Guinea’s National Disaster Center told the UN that the initial “landslide buried more than 2,000 people alive”.
Australia has announced millions of dollars worth of aid, including emergency supplies such as shelters, hygiene kits and support for women and children.
Chinese President Xi Jinping and his US counterpart Joe Biden – more used to scrapping for influence in strategically located Papua New Guinea – have offered to help.
According to estimates by humanitarian organizations, more than 1,000 people have already been displaced as a result of the disaster.
