Rescue efforts ongoing as landslide buries over 2,000 in Papua New Guinea

More than 2,000 people are feared buried following a catastrophic landslide that destroyed a remote highland village in Papua New Guinea.

The government called for international help in the rescue effort as it announced the growing death toll in the disaster.

The once-active hillside community in Enga province was almost wiped out when a chunk of Mount Mungalo collapsed in the early hours of Friday morning.

Several homes and the people sleeping inside them were buried alive in an incident that sent tears to the eyes of families, friends, and relatives.

In a letter to the United Nations, the country’s national disaster centre said, “The landslide buried more than 2,000 people alive and caused major destruction to buildings, food gardens and caused major impact on the economic lifeline of the country.”

It added that the scale of the dire incident required “immediate and collaborative actions from all players,” including the army and national and provincial responders.“

The centre also called on the United Nations to inform Papua New Guinea’s development partners “and other international friends” of the crisis.“

Experts have blamed climate change for the disaster.

Papua New Guinea is ranked as the world’s 16th most at-risk country to climate change and natural hazards, according to the 2022 World Risk Index.