Race Against Time: Emergency Crews Battle Treacherous Terrain to Reach Landslide-Ravaged Villages in Papua New Guinea

Saturday 25 May 2024 - 12:40

In the remote highlands of Papua New Guinea's isolated Enga province, emergency services are engaged in a race against time to reach villages devastated by a massive landslide that has left hundreds feared dead and countless others trapped beneath the rubble. A rapid response team comprising medics and military personnel has managed to reach the isolated landslide site, but difficult terrain and damage to main roads have hindered rescue efforts. Highway access is blocked, and the area is only accessible via helicopter.

The landslide struck around 03:00 local time on Friday (17:00 GMT on Thursday), burying hundreds of homes in the highlands of Enga, located in the north of the island nation in the southwest Pacific. The true extent of the tragedy remains unclear as the number of people trapped under the rubble is still unknown.

Care Australia, a humanitarian agency on the ground, has reported that 60 homes have been destroyed, and "at present, all the members of these households remain unaccounted for." With nearly 4,000 people living in the area where the landslide occurred, the agency has warned that the number affected is "likely to be higher" due to an influx of people escaping conflicts in neighboring areas.

Adding to the urgency of the situation, Care Australia has cautioned that other villages could also be at risk "if the landslide continues down the mountain."

Amos Akem, an Enga province MP, told the Guardian newspaper that based on reports from the ground, "the landslide buried more than 300 people and 1,182 houses." He further detailed that rescue efforts have been hampered by a blocked road connecting the affected Yambali village and the capital, as there is only one highway into Enga Province.

According to Care Australia, the landslide has created debris up to 8 meters deep, affecting more than 200 square kilometers of land, "including 150 meters of the main highway into Enga Province."

UN official Serhan Aktoprak told the Associated Press news agency that the area affected by the landslide covered the size of three to four football fields. While some houses in the village were spared, Aktoprak cautioned that "given the scale of the disaster," the death toll might exceed 100.

The operation to reach those affected has been further complicated by fears of additional landslides. "The land continues to slide and move, and that makes it dangerous for people to operate," Aktoprak told AFP news agency.

Residents from surrounding areas have described harrowing scenes of trees and debris from a collapsed mountainside burying parts of the community, leaving it isolated. Footage from the scene shows locals pulling bodies from beneath rubble and trees as they traverse the terrain, covered by giant boulders and uprooted trees.

One resident from a nearby village, Dominic Lau, recounted to Australian broadcaster ABC that when he arrived at the scene of the landslide, "there were no houses [left]." He added, "It was all just flat with soil. There was nothing, just rocks and soil... there were no people, and there were no houses to see."

Enga's governor, Peter Ipatas, described the situation as an "unprecedented natural disaster," telling AFP that as many as "six villages" had been affected by the landslide.

Papua New Guinea's Red Cross Society earlier stated that an emergency response team comprising officials from the provincial governor's office, police, defense forces, and local NGOs had been deployed to the site.

Speaking on Friday, Papua New Guinea's Prime Minister James Marape assured that authorities were responding to the disaster, and the government is working with local officials to provide "relief work, recovery of bodies, and reconstruction of infrastructure."

As the race against time continues, emergency crews face a daunting task, battling treacherous terrain and the ever-present threat of further landslides in their efforts to reach the stricken villages and bring aid to those affected by this catastrophic natural disaster.