More than 2,000 people were “buried alive” in an avalanche in Papua New Guinea, according to the government.

Papua New Guinea’s National Disaster Centre says more than 2,000 people were buried in a massive avalanche that struck a remote town in the country’s north early Friday.

According to a letter written by the center on Sunday and sent to the UN coordinator in the country, which EFE had access to this Monday, “more than 2,000 people were buried alive” due to a “massive avalanche” that occurred near the gold mine in Porgera, in the province of Enga, in the north of the country.

The letter said the avalanche, which occurred at 3am on Friday (17:00 GMT on Thursday), “caused massive damage to buildings and gardens and had a major impact on the country’s economic support.” The access road to the Porgera mine is “completely blocked.”

“The situation remains unstable as the landslide continues to progress slowly, still posing a threat to rescue teams and survivors,” the letter underlined.

UN sources consulted by EFE said it was difficult to accurately determine the number of dead and missing people due to the laborious rescue operation caused by the instability of the terrain and difficult access to the area.

Sunday’s figures from the International Organization for Migration (IOM), which has six staff in the disaster zone, estimated the number of houses destroyed at 150 and the number of people buried under avalanches at 670, “with hopes of finding them alive diminishing.”

According to this agency, about 1,000 people have also been displaced due to the avalanche.

The town of Kaoklam, about 600 kilometres from the country’s capital Port Moresby, was hit when part of a mountain collapsed on Friday morning, leaving houses buried under a layer of mud six to eight metres deep.

The affected area usually suffers from intense rains and floods, and landslides are not uncommon in the country where, despite an abundance of natural resources, a large portion of its more than nine million inhabitants live in extreme poverty and are isolated due to a lack of communications and infrastructure, especially in remote places such as the current disaster.

Papua New Guinea is located on the so-called Pacific Ring of Fire, an area of ​​great seismic and volcanic activity that is rocked by about 7,000 earthquakes per year, most of which are moderate.