Papua New Guinea: More than 2,000 people killed in landslide

Papua New Guinea reported on Monday more than 2,000 people were buried in a massive landslide.

A once-bustling remote hillside village in the province of Enga was almost completely wiped out when the landslide struck in the early hours of Friday morning.

"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," the national disaster center said in a letter to the UN office in Port Moresby.

Aid workers and villagers continue to brave dangerous conditions while desperately searching for survivors.

Australia's Deputy Prime Minister, Richard Marles, announced that his country is planning to send assistance.

"Our two countries are very close together, and in moments of natural disaster, they have been quick to support us. We are reciprocating the same kindness," Marles told the Australian public broadcaster ABC on Monday.

Thousand people displaced

"The situation is terrible with the land still sliding. The water is running and this is creating a massive risk for everyone involved," UN migration agency official Serhan Aktoprak said on Sunday. 

Relief agencies and local leaders initially thought that between 100 and 300 people had died in the disaster.

Authorities revised the death toll upward when aid workers on the ground realized more people were living in the village than initially thought.

The village was home to more than 4,000 people and served as a trading post for alluvial miners who panned for gold in the highlands.

The disaster has displaced more than 1,000 people, and food gardens and water supplies have been nearly wiped out.

On both sides of the massive debris field, which covers an area the size of three to four football fields and has cut off the main highway through the province, government authorities set up evacuation centers on safer ground.

Tribal clashes in area

In addition to the blocked highway, the convoys faced risks from tribal fighting in the village of Tambitanis, about halfway along the route, as they transported food, water and other essentials to the devastated village, 60 kilometers (35 miles) from the provincial capital of Wabag, since Saturday.

Papua New Guinea soldiers provided security for the convoys. Eight locals were killed on Saturday in a clash between two rival clans over a long-standing dispute unrelated to the landslide.

Enga province is a sparsely populated and difficult-to-access inland region in the northern half of Papua New Guinea. The landslide occurred approximately 600 kilometers northwest of the capital, Port Moresby.

Just south of the equator, the area often experiences heavy rainfall, including intense downpours and flooding this year.

It is also prone to volcanic and seismic activity.

In March, a landslide killed at least 23 people in a nearby province.

dh/lo (AP, AFP)