The International Organization for Migration on Sunday increased its estimate of the number of deaths by one massive landslide in Papua New Guinea to more than 670, rescuers and traumatized relatives having lost hope that survivors will now be found.
Serhan Aktoprak, head of the U.N. migration agency’s mission to the South Pacific island nation, said the revised death toll was based on calculations by Yambali village and provincial officials. Enga, according to which more than 150 houses had been buried by Friday’s landslide. The previous estimate was 60 homes.
“They estimate that there are currently more than 670 people underground,” Aktoprak told the Associated Press.
Mohamud Omer/International Organization for Migration via AP
Local authorities had initially estimated the death toll Friday at 100 or more. Only five bodies and the leg of a sixth victim had been found Sunday, when an excavator donated by a local builder became the first mechanical earth-moving machine to join the recovery efforts.
Rescue teams were transporting survivors to safer ground on Sunday as tons of unstable terrain and tribal warfare, gripping Papua New Guinea’s highlands, threatened rescue efforts.
About 250 additional homes have been boarded up since the landslide due to the still-shifting terrain, leaving about 1,250 people homeless, authorities said.
Mohamud Omer/International Organization for Migration via AP
The national government is considering whether to formally request more international support.
Teams have given up hope of finding survivors beneath the earth and rubble at a depth of 6 to 8 meters (20 to 26 feet).
“People accept this, so there is a serious level of grieving and grieving,” Aktoprak said.
He said the new estimated death toll was “not robust” because it was based on the region’s average family size per household. He does not speculate on the possibility that the actual toll is higher.
“It’s difficult to say. We want to be completely realistic,” Aktoprak said. “We do not want to propose figures that would inflate reality.”
Government authorities were establishing evacuation centers on safer ground on either side of the massive debris swath that covers an area the size of three to four football fields and has cut the main highway crossing the province.
Alongside the blocked highway, convoys carrying food, water and other essential supplies since Saturday to the devastated village 60 kilometers (35 miles) from the provincial capital, Wabag, are facing risks from tribal fighting in the village of Tambitanis, about halfway along the road. itinerary. Papua New Guinean soldiers provided security for the convoys.
Kafuri Yaro/UNDP Papua New Guinea via AP
Eight residents were killed Saturday in a clash between two rival clans, in a long-running conflict unrelated to the landslide. About 30 homes and five retail businesses were burned during the fighting, local officials said.
Aktoprak said he did not expect tribal fighters to target the convoys, but noted that opportunistic criminals could take advantage of the chaos to do so.
“This could result in a carjacking or theft,” Aktoprak said. “There are not only concerns for the safety and security of staff, but also for goods, as they could use this chaos as a means to steal.”
Long-standing tribal wars have cast doubt on the official estimate that nearly 4,000 people lived in the village when a side of Mount Mungalo collapsed. This count dates back several years and does not take into account people who recently moved to the village to flee clan violence that government authorities are unable to contain.
Justine McMahon, country director of humanitarian agency CARE International, said moving survivors to “more stable ground” was an immediate priority, as was providing them with food, water and shelter. The military led these efforts.
The number of injured and missing was still being assessed on Sunday. Seven people, including a child, had received medical treatment Saturday, but authorities had no details on their conditions.
Mohamud Omer/International Organization for Migration via AP
Papua New Guinea Defense Minister Billy Joseph and National Disaster Center director Laso Mana flew by helicopter from Port Moresby to Wabag on Sunday to get a first-hand look at what is needed.
Aktoprak expects the government to decide by Tuesday whether it will formally request additional international aid.
The United States and Australia, a close neighbor and Papua New Guinea’s most generous foreign aid provider, are among the governments that have publicly said they are prepared to do more to help responders .
Papua New Guinea is a diverse, developing country, with 800 languages and 10 million people who make their living mostly as subsistence farmers.
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