Papua New Guinea landslide: Race to rescue villagers trapped

In Enga state, Papua New Guinea, where hundreds of people are feared to be useless, emergency services are rushing to villages hit by a huge landslide.

According to the charitable organization Care Australia, a quick response team made up of military and medical personnel has been able to reach the remote landslide site.

Their access to the area has been hampered by challenging terrain and major road injury, it added in a speech.

Serhan Aktoprak, a UN standard, told the AFP news agency that” the area continues to slide and walk, making it dangerous for people to operate.”

The landslide buried hundreds of homes in the highlands of Enga, in the north of the island nation in the south- west Pacific, at around 03: 00 local time on Friday ( 17: 00 GMT on Thursday ).

People from nearby communities have described how plants and mountain particles have buried parts of the community, leaving it isolated.

The American Broadcasting Corporation reported that the area’s bridge has been blocked, making aircraft the sole means of transportation.

Locals dragging bodies from beneath wreckage and trees as they trundle through the ground, which is covered by enormous boulders and uprooted trees, can be seen in the film from the scene.

How many people are still buried beneath the wreckage is still a mystery.

While the location is not particularly densely populated, Care Australia is concerned that the death toll could been significantly higher, according to a previous statement.

Amos Akem, an Enga state MP, said that based on reports from the ground,” the flood buried more than 300 people and 1, 182 homes”.

According to Mr. Akem, a blocked road that connects the damaged Yambali town to the capital has hindered rescue efforts, according to the Guardian newspaper.

Yambali is located some 50km ( 31 yards ) from Wabag, the state’s capital.

According to Mr. Aktoprak, the UN’s chief executive for Papua New Guinea, the area affected by the disaster was the size of three to four soccer fields, according to Mr. Aktoprak, who spoke to AP news.

Yambali town, he added, is home to 3, 895 individuals.

Some houses in the town were spared by the disaster, Mr Aktoprak said, but “given the size of the crisis” the death toll may become higher than 100.

Speaking on Friday, Papua New Guinea’s Prime Minister James Marape said officials were responding to the hazard.

He said the government is working with local authorities to give “relief work, treatment of body, and restoration of system”.

A resident from a nearby village said that when he arrived at the scene,” there was no houses ]left ]”.

Dominic Lau, an American broadcaster, said it was all” just level with soil.”

” There was nothing, only rocks and soil… there were no people and there were no homes to see”, Mr Lau added.

Enga’s government Peter Ipatas told AFP as many as” six settlements” had been affected by the disaster, which he described as an “unprecedented natural devastation”.

Enga is more than 600km by path from the country’s capital, Port Moresby.

Papua New Guinea’s Red Cross Society before said an emergency response team made up of representatives from the municipal governor’s office, police, military forces, and local NGOs had been deployed to the page.