PORT MORESBY, Papua New Guinea — In a devastating natural disaster, Papua New Guinea officials estimate that around 2,000 individuals were buried after landslides struck a remote village last Friday.
According to a letter sent to the United Nations, the country’s disaster agency reported the grim estimate, ABC News revealed on Monday. The landslides have caused severe destruction in Yambali village, where more than 150 houses have been buried under the debris, as stated by Serhan Aktoprak, an official with the UN migration agency mission in Papua New Guinea.
The affected regions lie in the highlands of Enga province, situated in the northern part of the country in the southwest Pacific. The UN office in the Pacific Island nation announced that approximately 670 people remain missing, though the exact number is still being determined as search and rescue operations persist.
“The site’s remoteness, ongoing terrain movement, and damage to access roads are severely hampering relief efforts,” the UN office stated, highlighting the challenges faced by rescue teams.
Government authorities are primarily concentrating on clearing the debris and enhancing access to the disaster site to expedite the rescue and relief operations. The situation remains fluid as efforts continue, with the full scale of the tragedy yet to be fully understood.
