WorthyNews: 100 Killed As Massive Landslide Hits Papua New Guinea

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By Stefan J. Bos, Chief International Correspondent Worthy News

PORT MORESBY (Worthy News) – Villagers in a remote village in Papua New Guinea struggled Friday to recover bodies after a massive landslide killed more than 100 people, residents said.

The landslide reportedly struck at 3 a.m. local time at Kaokalam Village in Enga Province, about 600 kilometers (373 miles) northwest of Port Moresby, the capital.

The Enga Provincial administration said it had assembled an emergency response team to undertake a rapid impact assessment of the damage.

It called on local health facilities and aid groups to be on standby to assist with recovery and relief efforts.

Residents say current estimates of the death toll sit above 100, though the government has not released an official death toll from the landslide.

Elizabeth Laruma, the president of the Porgera Women in Business Association, said houses were flattened when the side of a nearby mountain gave way.

‘VILLAGE GONE DOWN’

“It has occurred when people were still asleep in the early hours, and the entire village has gone down,” Laruma told Australian broadcaster ABC. “From what I can presume, it’s about 100-plus people who are buried beneath the ground.”

It was the latest setback for a nation on the eastern part of the world’s second-largest island, which is prey to volcanic activity, earthquakes, and tidal waves.

These struggles have added to misery for a country where “40 percent of the estimated population of 10.3 million live below the extreme poverty line, and 41 percent of children live in poverty,” according to the United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF).

It wasn’t immediately clear what Friday’s landslide had on Christian missionaries working in the country, which shares its only land border with Indonesia to the west and is directly adjacent to Australia.

In other landslides and earthquakes, the mission group World Gospel Mission (WGM) said several churches were destroyed.

Besides landslides and quakes, there is spiritual turbulence, WGM suggested. Though nominal ‘Christian,’ the culture is still “steeped in superstition, truths of Christianity often become entangled with traditional tribal beliefs,” the group said.

FEARING OTHER SPIRITS

“Papua New Guineans believe in many spirits, which makes them open to hearing about God. However, once a person embraces Christ, they often struggle to stop worshiping and fearing the other spirits,” WMG added.

As more dead bodies were found following the latest landslide, more prayers were expected in and for the troubled nation.

Ninga Role, from hard-hit Kaokalam but attending university in Madang, said he received news of the damage Friday morning.

He estimates at least four of his relatives have been killed in the landslide. “I feel very sad. And I feel sad for the whole community,” he told the ABC, which has a base in Papua New Guinea.

“They have lost their lives, their loved ones, their properties.”

Residents said it’s hard to locate bodies. Footage on social media showed residents scaling huge rocks and pulling bodies from rubble and beneath trees.

RESIDENTS STILL SEARCHING

But it didn’t seem easy to work between collapsed buildings.

The landslide has also blocked an access road to the town of Porgera, where a large gold mine is located.

Laruma said people in the area were concerned about access to goods and services.

“When this road is being closed off – and I don’t know how long it’s going to take – it’s going to have a really big impact on the people out there in terms of goods, fuel, and services,” she said.

“It’s going to have a big impact on the lives of the people of Porgera and the mine as well.”

She urged the government and non-governmental organizations to assist with immediate relief to the area.

It meant an additional challenge for Prime Minister James Marape, re-elected as government leader following parliamentary elections in July 2022.

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