More than 600 people could have died after a landslide in Papua New Guinea, as detailed this Sunday by the head of the International Organization for Migration (IOM) in the country, Serhan Aktoprak. The rescue teams have recovered only five bodies from the rubble and mud, as detailed by the EFE agency, which has spoken with those responsible for the rescue. The landslide occurred shortly after a powerful earthquake and the UN migration agency estimates that the death toll could be up to 670.
The media of the oceanic country, located north of Australia, had previously reported about 300 deaths as a result of the avalanche that has almost completely buried the remote village of Kaokalam, in the province of Enga, about 600 kilometers north. northwest of the capital, Port Moresby. In addition, other towns in the area have also been affected. The regional head of the IOM has raised the number of victims this Sunday in a statement to the Australian television network ABC, to which he added that it is estimated that more than a hundred houses have been buried at a depth of between six and eight meters. “The hope of getting people out alive has been reduced,” Aktroprak added: “People are assimilating it.”
The area where the disaster occurred remains dangerous due to the risk of new avalanches, the IOM official detailed. Despite this, work continues to try to evacuate more than 1,200 survivors, he added. “It is difficult to confirm the real number [de víctimas, así como el daño sufrido] while search and rescue efforts continue,” said the head of the United Nations office in Papua New Guinea, Kesang Phuntsho.
“My colleagues had to escape from the place due to the increasing danger, since rocks continue to fall without stopping and the earth continues to slide,” the United Nations team explained. The avalanche of earth and rocks has affected an area of more than 200 square kilometers, including a section of the main highway in the province – the Porgera Highway, which would have been cut off for about 150 kilometers -, making rescue and rescue efforts difficult. Help the survivors.
In total, six villages in the region have been affected. All road access to Kaokalam remains closed and arrival is only possible by jeep or helicopter.
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Around 4,000 people live in the area where the avalanche occurred. That is the official census, although authorities estimate that the number may be higher, since the most affected town functions as a refuge for people fleeing conflicts and tribal clashes in other nearby villages.
Earthquakes, as well as heavy rains and floods, often occur in the affected area. Landslides are not unusual in the country either, in which a large part of its more than nine million inhabitants lives in extreme poverty – despite the wealth in natural resources – and is isolated by a lack of communications and infrastructure, especially in places remote as the scene of this catastrophe.
The avalanche happened at 3:00 a.m., confirmed Ninga Role, a villager who spoke by phone to the Reuters agency. Many of the locals were sleeping when the avalanche occurred. The images that this resident of the damaged town published on social networks showed people searching for survivors among rocks, uprooted trees and piles of earth with a background sound of crying. “It is very difficult to get them out. [a los supervivientes]. The area covered with land is large and there are rocks and trees everywhere,” Role detailed.
“We are sending disaster officials, the Defense Forces [el ejército] of Papua New Guinea and the Department of Works and Highways to meet with provincial and Enga district officials, to begin relief work, recovery of bodies and reconstruction of infrastructure,” said the country’s Prime Minister, James Marape, it’s a statement.
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