Papua New Guinea landslide: More than 2,000 buried alive; India offers support

More than 2,000 people have been reportedly buried in a massive landslide that swept over a remote village in Papua New Guinea on early hours of May 24.

"The landslide buried more than 2,000 people alive and caused major destruction," the country's national disaster center told the UN office in the capital Port Moresby.

A once-bustling remote hillside village of Yambali in Enga province was almost wiped out when a chunk of Mount Mungalo collapsed in the early hours on May 24 burying scores of homes and the people sleeping inside them, a report in NDTV said.

Prime Minister Narendra Modi while expressing his condolences for the lives lost in the calamity said that India is ready to offer all possible assistance.

“Deeply saddened by the loss of lives and damage caused by the devastating landslide in Papua New Guinea. Our heartfelt condolences to the affected families and prayers for speedy recovery of the injured. India is ready to offer all possible support and assistance,” PM Modi wrote in a post on X.

According to a BBC report, exact death toll figures for the disaster have been difficult to establish. The figure provided by the acting director of the country's National Disaster Centre is far higher than the 670, the United Nations (UN) suggested over the weekend.

The landslide has caused major destruction to buildings, food gardens and impacted the economic lifeline of the country.

The South Pacific Island Nation’s disaster office in the letter to UN said that the main highway to Porgera Mine was "completely blocked".

The letter, which was received by UN officials on the morning of May 27 also said that “the situation remains unstable as the landslip continue to shift slowly, posing ongoing danger to both the rescue teams and survivors alike."

The scale of the catastrophe required "immediate and collaborative actions from all players", it said, including the army, and national and regional responders.

He said that assistance should be coordinated through the disaster center while calling out on UN to inform Papua New Guinea's development partners “and other international friends" of the latest situation.

The search and rescue operations are also facing hurdles as the settlement is located in a restive and remote area in the interior of the poor, rural nation off the northern coast of Australia.

"The landslide area is very unstable. When we're up there, we're regularly hearing big explosions where the mountain is, there is still rocks and debris coming down," Enga province disaster committee chairperson Sandis Tsaka told Reuters.

“The landslide is still active, as people are digging through the rocks, more is still coming down," he said.

“A state of emergency has been declared across the disaster zone and a neighboring area, with a combined population of between 4,500 to 8,000, although not all have been ordered to evacuate yet," Tsaka said.

He further said that military personnel are helping move residents to evacuation centres. The area poses further challenge of treacherous terrain and tribal unrest because of which heavy equipment and aid are slow to arrive.