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The National Disaster Centre in Papua New Guinea has reported a landslide that occurred on Friday, May 24, resulting in loss of lives.
According to a report, more than 2,000 individuals were buried alive when the landslide struck Yambali village catching most of the community unaware as they slept.
The impact was profound, with over 150 houses buried beneath debris, some reaching nearly two stories high.
In the aftermath, survivors desperately searched through tons of earth and rubble for missing loved ones, while emergency aid efforts began to mobilize.
In a letter addressed to the UN, Luseta Laso Mana, acting director of the agency, confirmed the staggering toll, stating that the landslide had buried more than 2,000 people alive and inflicted major destruction upon Yambali village in the Enga province.
Serhan Aktoprak, chief of the United Nations International Organisation for Migration (IOM) in Papua New Guinea, revised the initial fatality count based on assessments from local officials.
Recall that the Street Journal reported that 670 people were buried.
The scope of the disaster widened further as officials estimated that over 4,000 people had been affected, with approximately a thousand homes collapsing under the force of the landslide.
Australia’s Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade (DFAT) reported that the disaster affected multiple villages in the Mulitaka region of Enga province.
Despite the toll, there were moments of hope amidst the devastation.
Rescue efforts managed to pull six survivors, including a child, from the rubble, providing a glimmer of relief to the stricken community.
Papua New Guinea, situated in the volatile ‘Pacific Ring of Fire,’ where seismic activity is prevalent, has faced its share of natural disasters.
Earlier in March, the country experienced a 6.9-magnitude earthquake, further highlighting the region’s vulnerability to such catastrophic events.
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