There are fears the number of missing following a deadly landslide in Papua New Guinea could stretch into the thousands, a government agency has said.
The acting director of the nation’s National Disaster Centre said in a letter it was feared more than 2,000 people were buried alive in Friday’s disaster.
However, an exact casualty figure has been hard to establish and estimates have varied widely, as rescue efforts have been hindered by rubble 10m (32ft) deep in some places and a lack of adequate equipment.
Fewer than a dozen bodies have been recovered so far, while the United Nations (UN) put the figure of the missing at 670.
Observers reported early Friday that a mountainside collapse had destroyed a busy village in Enga province. The damage was approximately 1 km.
Approximately 3,800 people lived in this area before the earthquake.
Lucete Laso Mana’s letter said the damage was “extensive” and had a “serious impact on the country’s economic lifeline.”
Prime Minister James Marape expressed his condolences and ordered the deployment of the country’s defense forces and emergency response organizations to the area, about 600 kilometers northwest of the capital Port Moresby.
But locals in the affected village of Khao Lam say they are still waiting for authorities to launch a large-scale rescue operation.
Local resident Evitt Kambu said he believed many of his family members were trapped under the rubble and rubble.
“Eighteen members of my family are buried under the rubble and earth where I stand. And there are countless more families in the village,” she told Reuters.
“Thank you to everyone who helped, but we can’t recover the body, so I’m standing here helpless.”
A community leader who visited : Local residents said they felt they had to protect themselves. They used shovels and their bare hands to dig people out.
“Almost three or four days have passed and [many] bodies have still not been found. They are still covered in landslides and people are finding it very difficult to dig them out.” We feel the same way and are asking the government for support and assistance.
However, a state police officer that he saw soldiers arriving at the scene and trying to remove rocks to free the trapped people.
Acting State Police Commander Martin Kelley said the effort was dangerous because removing car-sized rocks and other large barriers risked further rockslides. Ta.
“Excavation is very difficult at the moment because of fears of further landslides and fatalities. Therefore, local people only dig where they think it is safe. We are buried wherever we are.” We are trying to identify people,” he said.
He has visited the site several times since Friday’s collapse and claimed he could still hear survivors screaming for help beneath the rubble.
Local media reported that the couple had been pulled alive from under the rock. They survived because their house was damaged only at the edge of the landslide.
They were rescued after rescuers heard their cries for help, local broadcaster NBC reported.
Remaining residents are being evacuated as the region remains high-risk amid forecasts of further rain.
“The ground is also quite unstable at the moment and it is at risk of triggering further landslide,” said Justine McMahon, the country co-ordinator of Care Australia, one of the humanitarian aid agencies on the ground.
“We’ve decided to stay out for now to allow the authorities time to properly assess the situation to conduct the rescue and recovery operations.”
Earlier, an official for the UN’s migration agency in the country had also described to the UAE Breaking the difficulties around the rescue.
Serhan Aktoprak from the International Organization for Migration said there were a number of challenges facing teams trying to recover bodies, including reluctance by some grieving relatives to let heavy machinery near their loved ones.
Instead, he said, “people are using digging sticks, spades, large agricultural forks to remove the bodies buried under the soil”.
Debris from the landslide, which includes large boulders, trees and displaced soil.
Crews at the scene also say rescue efforts are being hindered by major damage to the sole road leading to the town. The landslide has damaged a length of about 200m (650ft), Ms McMahon said.
The Mount Mungalo landslide occurred in the highlands of Enga, in the north of the island nation.
Local officials and reporters have attributed the mountain’s collapse to weeks of heavy rain and other wet conditions in the area.