[Ammi]

Papua New Guinea: More than 2,000 people buried alive in landslide - as 'major destruction' hampers rescue efforts…



More than 2,000 people have been buried by a massive landslide in northern Papua New Guinea, the country's disaster agency has said.

The landslide levelled the mountainous Kaokalam village in Enga Province - about 370 miles (600km) northwest of the capital Port Moresby.

It hit the Pacific nation at around 3am local time on Friday (6pm on Thursday UK time), and the United Nations had earlier said it estimated 670 people had been killed. Local officials had initially put the number of dead at 100 or more.

The Papua New Guinea national disaster centre said the landslide had buried more than 2,000 people.

"The landslide buried more than 2,000 people alive and caused major destruction to buildings, food gardens and caused
major impact on the economic lifeline of the country," an official from the national disaster centre said in a letter to the United Nations.

Earlier, Serhan Aktoprak, head of the United Nations' International Organisation for Migration mission on the island nation, said the figure of 670 deaths was based on calculations by local officials that more than 150 homes had been buried. The previous estimate was 60 homes.

"They are estimating that more than 670 people [are] under the soil at the moment," he said.

More than 4,000 people were likely impacted by the disaster, humanitarian group CARE Australia said earlier.

It said the area was "a place of refuge for those displaced by [nearby] conflicts".

About six villages were affected by the landslide in the province's Mulitaka region, according to Australia's Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade.

Three bodies were pulled from an area where 50 to 60 homes were destroyed. Six people, including a child, were pulled from the rubble alive, the UN's Papua New Guinea office said.

But hopes of finding more survivors were diminishing.


…full article and pics of some of the devastation…

https://news.sky.com/story/papua-new...slide-13143217