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Emergency convoy delivers provisions to survivors of devastating landslide in Papua New Guinea
https://apnews.com/article/papua-new-guinea-landslide-6908ec1ed79d30c6a02dfa3bdac25f79Emergency convoy delivers provisions to survivors of devastating landslide in Papua New Guinea
BY ROD MCGUIRK AND KEIRAN SMITH
Updated 9:31 AM EDT, May 25, 2024
MELBOURNE, Australia (AP) — Survivors searched through tons of earth and rubble by hand looking for missing relatives while a first emergency convoy delivered food, water and other provisions Saturday at the site of a landslide that devastated a remote village in the mountains of Papua New Guinea and was feared to have buried scores of people, officials said.
An assessment team reported “suggestions” that 100 people were dead and 60 houses buried by the mountainside that collapsed in Enga province a few hours before dawn Friday, said Serhan Aktoprak, the chief of the International Organization for Migration’s mission in the South Pacific island nation.
Confirming a firm number of those who have died will be difficult “given it is considered culturally taboo to ask survivors of the status of their relatives,” Aktoprak said.
Only three bodies had been recovered by early Saturday from the vast swath of earth, boulders and splintered trees that struck part of Yambali, a village of nearly 4,000 people that is 600 kilometers (370 miles) northwest of the capital, Port Moresby.
[...]
——
Smith reported from Newcastle, Australia.
BY ROD MCGUIRK AND KEIRAN SMITH
Updated 9:31 AM EDT, May 25, 2024
MELBOURNE, Australia (AP) — Survivors searched through tons of earth and rubble by hand looking for missing relatives while a first emergency convoy delivered food, water and other provisions Saturday at the site of a landslide that devastated a remote village in the mountains of Papua New Guinea and was feared to have buried scores of people, officials said.
An assessment team reported “suggestions” that 100 people were dead and 60 houses buried by the mountainside that collapsed in Enga province a few hours before dawn Friday, said Serhan Aktoprak, the chief of the International Organization for Migration’s mission in the South Pacific island nation.
Confirming a firm number of those who have died will be difficult “given it is considered culturally taboo to ask survivors of the status of their relatives,” Aktoprak said.
Only three bodies had been recovered by early Saturday from the vast swath of earth, boulders and splintered trees that struck part of Yambali, a village of nearly 4,000 people that is 600 kilometers (370 miles) northwest of the capital, Port Moresby.
[...]
——
Smith reported from Newcastle, Australia.