A Papua New Guinean government official told the United Nations that more than 2,000 people were believed buried alive in Friday’s landslide and formally requested international assistance.The government figure is almost three times the UN estimate that 670 people were killed in landslides in the mountainous interior of the South Pacific island nation. So far the remains of only six people have been recovered.
In a letter yesterday to the UN Resident Coordinator obtained by The Associated Press, Lucita Lasso Mana, acting director of the South Pacific country’s National Disaster Center, said the landslide “buried more than 2,000 people alive” and caused “major devastation.” (Yambali village, Inga province).
Estimates of casualties have varied widely since the disaster occurred, and it was not immediately clear how officials arrived at the number of people affected.
The International Organization for Migration, which works closely with the government and plays a leading role in the international response, is not changing its death toll estimate of 670 released yesterday pending new evidence.
“We can’t object to what the government is proposing, but we can’t comment on it,” said Serhan Okprak, head of the UN migration agency’s mission in Papua New Guinea.
“As time goes on in such a large project, the numbers will continue to fluctuate,” Oktorak said.
The death toll of 670 people was based on calculations by officials in Yambali village and Enga district that more than 150 houses were buried in the landslide. The previous estimate was 60 houses.
The office of Papua New Guinea Prime Minister James Marape did not respond today to a request for clarification on the government’s 2000 estimates.
The scale of the disaster is difficult to determine due to the village’s remote location, lack of telecommunications, and difficult conditions on the ground, including tribal warfare throughout the province, meaning international relief workers and aid convoys require military escort.
Due to the landslide, a 200 meter stretch of the main highway of the district was buried under 6 to 8 meter deep debris, causing major hindrance to the rescue workers.
Mana said that the landslide will have a huge economic impact on the entire country.
Maina wrote to the UN that “the situation remains unstable” due to changes in terrain, “which pose a continuing threat to rescue teams and survivors.”
