Around 2000 people are feared buried in landslide in Papua New Guinea

Citing the country’s National Disaster Center, CNN reported that about 2000 people are feared buried in the massive landslide in Papua New Guinea.

Rescue workers are struggling to find any survivors in the remote area.

The landslide occurred on Friday last week in the mountainous Enga region of northern Papua New Guinea and the latest figure is a sharp increase from earlier estimates.

Soon after the disaster occurred, the United Nations confirmed that at least 100 people may have died.

However, this was later revised to 670, according to the estimate of the head of mission of the International Organization for Migration (IOM) in the country, CNN reported.

But this may now be a major underestimate, according to the latest estimate from Papua New Guinea’s disaster agency.

“The landslide buried more than 2,000 people alive, caused major damage to buildings, food gardens and had a major impact on the country’s economic lifeline,” Lucette Lasso Mana, acting director of the National Disaster Centre, said in a letter to the UN. ” ,

“The situation remains unstable as the landslide is gradually increasing, posing a threat to both rescue teams and survivors,” he/she said, adding that the main highway in the area was completely blocked due to the landslide. It is done.

“Following an inspection by the team, it was determined that the damage is extensive and requires immediate and collaborative action from all players,” Mana said, according to a CNN report.

The landslide struck the remote village of Kaoklam, about 600 kilometers (372 miles) northwest of the capital Port Moresby, at about 3 a.m. local time on Friday, leaving behind a trail of debris that humanitarian workers said was the size of four football pitches. Was.

According to officials, more than 150 houses were buried under debris in Yambali village.

Officials said the area remains “extreme risk” as rocks continue to fall and the ground’s soil remains exposed to ever-increasing pressure.

Specifically, Papua New Guinea is home to approximately 10 million people. Access to the affected area has been difficult due to its vast mountainous terrain and lack of roads.

Associate Professor Pierre Rognon, from the University of Sydney’s School of Civil Engineering, stressed that finding survivors after landslides is “particularly challenging” for rescue workers.

“Landslides can bury collapsed structures and people under dozens of meters of earth’s material,” he/she said.

“To make things worse, they can shift structures and trap people for hundreds of meters. “No one can predict exactly where potential survivors may be located or where to begin the search for them.”

It is unclear what caused the landslide, but University of Adelaide geology professor Alan Collins said it occurred in an area of ​​”considerable rainfall”.

“Although the landslides do not appear to have been directly caused by an earthquake, repeated earthquakes as the plates collide create steep slopes and high mountains that can be very unstable,” Collins said.

Collins said the rain could alter minerals, weakening the bedrock that forms the steep hills, CNN reports.

“Vegetation reduces this because tree roots can stabilize the ground and deforestation can make landslides more prevalent by destroying this biological web,” he/she said.