Meteorologia

  • 18 NOVEMBER 2024
Tempo
19º
MIN 13º MÁX 19º

Landslide Kills More Than 100 in Papua New Guinea

More than 100 people are feared dead after a landslide completely buried a village in a remote part of Papua New Guinea, Australia's public broadcaster ABC reported.

Notícias ao Minuto

07:39 - 24/05/24 por Lusa

Mundo Papua Nova Guiné

The landslide hit the village of Kaokalam, in Enga province, about 600 kilometers (370 miles) northwest of the South Pacific nation’s capital, Port Moresby, at around 3 a.m. (5 p.m. Thursday ET), ABC reported.

Residents told the Australian broadcaster they believe the death toll is already in the dozens and said the final count could be much higher.

Enga provincial administrator Peter Ipatas acknowledged the landslide had caused “loss of lives and properties” but did not immediately give an assessment of the number of people affected.

Videos posted on social media showed villagers digging through mud and debris to recover bodies.

Elizabeth Laruma, who runs a women’s business association in Porgera, a town in the same province, said homes in Kaokalam village were destroyed when a hillside collapsed.

“It happened when people were asleep in the early hours of the morning and the whole village has been wiped out,” Laruma told ABC. “From what I gathered, there are about 100 people buried alive,” she added.

The landslide has also blocked the road between Kaokalam and Porgera, Laruma said, raising concerns about the supply of fuel and goods to Porgera town itself.

Kaokalam resident Ninga Role, who was away when the landslide occurred, said he feared at least four of his relatives had died.

“There are big boulders, logs and trees. Buildings have collapsed,” Role said. “All this is making it very difficult to quickly retrieve the bodies,” he said.

Papua New Guinea is a developing nation of subsistence farmers and has more than 800 languages. There are few roads outside the main cities.

With a population of 10 million, it is also the most populous nation in the South Pacific after Australia, which has about 27 million people.

Read more: Cannibalism? Papua-New Guinea responds to Biden: “Country does not deserve it” (Portuguese version)

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