Poor weather and overnight rains spark new fears that landslide rubble could become dangerously unstable
Locals gather at the site of a landslide at Mulitaka village in the region of Maip Mulitaka, in Papua New Guinea's Enga Province. Photograph: STR/AFP via Getty ImagesThe Papua New Guinea government said a landslide on Friday buried more than 2,000 people and has formally asked for international help.
However, poor weather and overnight rains in the south Pacific nation’s mountainous region have sparked new fears that the rubble that buried hundreds of villagers could soon become dangerously unstable. “We’ve got obviously airlift capacity to get people there. There may be other equipment that we can bring to bear in terms of the search and rescue and all of that we are talking through with PNG right now,” he added.
Heavy rain fell for two hours overnight in the provincial capital of Wabag, 35 miles from the devastated village. A weather report was not immediately available from Yambali, where communications are limited. An excavator donated by a local builder on Sunday became the first piece of heavy earth-moving machinery brought in to help villagers who have been digging with shovels and farming tools to find bodies.Serhan Aktoprak, the chief of the International Organisation for Migration’s mission in Papua New Guinea, said water was seeping between the debris and the earth below, increasing the risk of a further landslide.
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