Papua New Guinea’s Prime Minister James Marape has blamed “unusual rainfall” and changing weather patterns for several disasters in the Pacific island nation this year, including last week’s landslides that may have killed thousands.
Part of a mountain in the Maipu-Muritaka region of Enga province in northern Papua New Guinea collapsed early last Friday, and Marape said more than 2,000 people were estimated to have died, with up to 70,000 living in the affected area.
“The people of that village were peacefully sleeping as they took their final breath, not knowing that nature was causing a devastating landslide that submerged and covered the village,” Marape told parliament on Wednesday.
Estimates of the death toll from Friday’s landslide have changed in recent days, with some local officials putting the figure at much lower than Marape’s.
He said even before the Enga landslide, natural disasters had cost the country more than 500 million kina ($126 million) this year.
“This year we have experienced unusually heavy rainfall which has caused flooding in riverine areas, sea level rise in coastal areas and landslides in some areas,” Marape said.
“We are facing unusual weather patterns and a shift from dry to wet,” he added.
“The ongoing impacts of climate change are not limited to Enga. Over the past two months, we have seen unprecedented disasters across the country,” Deputy Prime Minister John Rosso said.
The remarks came after aid workers said entire villages had been buried in landslides in Enga.
“It’s basically like a mountain has collapsed on their heads,” said Mate Bagosie, a relief worker with the United Nations Development Programme in the remote town of Yambari in northern Enga province.
“The whole village is gone – the shops, the gas station, the lodge, the church, the school – everything is gone,” said Bagosy, one of the first foreign aid workers to arrive in the village earlier this week.
The Pacific nation, just north of Australia, regularly experiences landslides and natural disasters, but this latest one is one of the most devastating in recent years.
Defence Minister Billy Joseph travelled to the site of the landslide on Wednesday with relief supplies provided by Australia, the government said, and Australian and New Zealand military personnel will be helping with relief and recovery efforts.
Papua New Guinea stepped up rescue efforts on Wednesday but authorities fear disease outbreaks amid warnings of more landslides. Thousands of people have been ordered evacuated after further landslides on the mountain.
Officials say there is little hope of finding survivors, but residents are digging through nearly two-storey-high mud and rubble with shovels and their bare hands. The treacherous terrain and tribal tensions in the remote area have delayed rescue teams from reaching the scene, forcing the army to provide escorts for their convoys.
Sandis Tshaka, chairman of Enga provincial disaster committee, told Reuters on Tuesday that areas hit by landslides remained “highly unstable”.
“While we were there we could hear loud explosions periodically in certain parts of the mountain and rocks and debris are still falling,” Tshaka said.
Nicholas Booth, resident representative for the United Nations Development Programme, said the ever-shifting terrain was making relief efforts extremely complicated.
“That means the area affected by the landslides is now larger than it was initially. We don’t know how it will develop, but that’s the nature of Papua New Guinea’s geology,” he said.
Water flowing under the rubble made the scene uneven, meaning response operations had to be carried out very carefully, he said.
Booth said long-running fighting between tribes was making it difficult for aid workers to access the area. Eight people were killed and 30 homes were set ablaze in Saturday’s fighting.
A total of 150 buildings are estimated to have been buried by the landslide.
The landslide occurred on part of a highway near the Porgera gold mine, operated by Barrick Gold Co. through Barrick Niugini Ltd, a joint venture with China’s Zijin Mining Co. The company said its operations were not affected.
Marape said the government was working with Barrick to reopen the road, and that Barrick was ready to provide the government with more heavy machinery at the slip site.
In its latest report, the United Nations said a bridge on a main road leading to the affected area collapsed on Tuesday, potentially delaying rescue efforts to reach the scene.
The UN migration agency warned that the disease would spread if urgent action was not taken.
“Body masses buried under the rubble are decomposing and water continues to leak between the ground and a vast area of rubble the size of three to four football fields, posing a significant health risk,” Serhan Aktoprak, the agency’s representative in Papua New Guinea, said in an emailed statement.
Reuters and Associated Press
