UN puts Papua New Guinea avalanche death toll at over 670

A UN agency estimated this Sunday that more than 670 people were killed in a landslide that hit a remote village in northern Papua New Guinea on Friday morning, according to Australian state television ABC.

Serhan Aktoprak, the head of the International Organisation for Migration in Papua New Guinea, told the ABC that according to new estimates, more than 150 houses are buried six to eight metres deep under rocks and earth and he fears more than 670 homes will be buried. People have lost their lives.

Actoprak said they were working to evacuate about 1,250 survivors as the disaster zone in Kaoklam village, 600 kilometres from the country’s capital, Port Moresby, remained dangerous because of the threat of new avalanches.

Despite the large number of victims, few bodies have been recovered, owing to the need for machinery to remove stones and soil buried in the village.

Care Australia, the NGO based in Papua New Guinea, indicated in a statement sent to EFE on Friday that access to the village was blocked and “will take a considerable amount of time to clear”, which would delay aid efforts and the arrival of information about victims.

The NGO said that despite the difficulties, a rescue team of Papuan authorities has arrived at the scene to assess the situation and assist victims. “Although the area is not densely populated, our concern is that the death toll is very high,” the statement said.

Witnesses told the ABC they feared new landslides in the mountainous region and called on the government to send aid to guarantee the safety of towns in the region.

According to Elizabeth Laruma, a neighbor quoted by the Australian network, the houses were buried when a sudden avalanche came down from a nearby mountain, catching locals by surprise while they were asleep. This woman said that “the whole town has disappeared.”

On his part, the governor of Enga, Sandise Tsaka, indicated in a statement on Friday that rescue teams consisting of the police, the army, international NGOs and the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) have moved to the area to assist in the “unprecedented natural disaster.”

Papuan Prime Minister James Marape indicated that he would release more information on the “scale of the disaster and loss of life” when rescue teams assess the situation, according to a statement released by his spokesman. Similarly, Australian Prime Minister, Anthony Albanese, expressed his condolences and Australia’s willingness to help on the social network X today.

Pictures from the disaster site by US network NBC showed a vast area of ​​rocks and mud torn from a hillside, with neighbours gathering their belongings and searching the area buried by the landslide for survivors.

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.