ANDPapua New Guinea’s National Disaster Center says more than 2,000 people were buried by the large avalanche that devastated a remote town in the north of the country early Friday morning.
The avalanche, which occurred on Friday at three in the morning (17:00 GMT on Thursday), “caused a great destruction of buildings, gardens and has generated a great impact on the economic support of the country,” says the letter, which adds that The main access road to the Porgera mine “is completely blocked.”
“The situation remains unstable as the landslide continues slowly, which still poses a danger to rescue teams and survivors,” the letter underlines.
UN sources consulted by EFE report the difficulty of accurately determining the number of fatalities and missing persons due in part to the laborious rescue operation due to the instability of the terrain and the difficult access to the area.
The avalanche too has displaced about 1,000 peopleaccording to this agency.
The collapse of part of a mountain early Friday morning impacted the town of Kaokalam, about 600 kilometers from the country’s capital, Port Moresby, burying homes in a layer between six and eight meters deep.
Papua New Guinea sits on the so-called Pacific Ring of Fire, an area of great seismic and volcanic activity that is shaken by about 7,000 earthquakes each year.
The affected area usually suffers from heavy rains and flooding, and landslides are not unusual in the country, in which, despite the wealth in natural resources, a large part of its more than nine million inhabitants live in extreme poverty and are isolated by a lack of communications and infrastructure, especially in remote places like the current catastrophe.
Search and rescue efforts “could last days”
“The Papua New Guinea Army is leading the search and rescue efforts. The remoteness of the site, the continued movement of the terrain and damage to access roads are slowing efforts,” the UN office in this country said in a statement. oceanic country.
The remoteness of the site, the continuous movement of the terrain and the damage to access roads are slowing down efforts
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“Government authorities are focused on clearing debris and improving access to the site. While the exact number of victims is not yet known, affected communities estimate that at least 670 people are missing. This figure is subject to change as the Rescue efforts are ongoing and are expected to continue for days,” the UN notes.
Survivors and volunteers remove stones by hand and try to dig with sticks and machetes in the dense tongue of earth and rocks left by the avalanche, as seen in videos from the field published by the Papuan channel NBC, which report that two people They were rescued alive.
“There are people who are still buried. You can hear them screaming (for help),” says this Papuan.
Around 4,000 people officially live in the area where the avalanche occurred, although authorities estimate that the number of people affected is higher, since the town where it occurred is a place where locals fleeing conflicts and tribal clashes in nearby villages take refuge.
In parallel with the rescue efforts, the UN and local authorities have also deployed a mission to care for the victims.
“The necessary emergency supplies, including temporary shelters, food and water, are being prepared for transportation and distribution,” the UN said in its statement, underlining that evacuee centers have been established in collaboration with local authorities and the Armed Forces.
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