The Government of India extended an immediate relief assistance of one million USD to support relief rehabilitation and reconstruction efforts in the Papua New Guinea in the wake of devastating landslide, the Ministry of External Affairs (MEA) said on May 27, 2024.
“As a close friend and partner under the Forum for India-Pacific islands (FIPIC) and as a gesture of the solidarity with friendly people of Papua New Guinea, the GoI (Government of India) extends an immediate relief assistance of one million to support relief, rehabilitation and reconstruction effort, MEA statement read.
Papua New Guinea ordered thousands of residents to evacuate from the path of a still active landslide which began on May 24, 2024 after parts of the mountain collapsed the burying at least 2000 people according to the government estimates. The UN has pegged the possible toll at 670. Following the landslide, PM Narendra Modi on May 28, 2024 expressed his deep condolences and conveyed India’s readiness to extend al possible support to Port Moresby.
A catastrophic landslide levelled dozens of homes and buried families alive in a remote village in the isolated Enga province of Papua New Guinea in May 24, 2024. The landslide occurred early on May 24, 2024 in Yambali village home to nearly 4000 people located 600km northwest of the capital Port Moresby.
The massive landslide has buried more than 2000 people, the Papua New Guinea government said on May 27, 2024 as treacherous terrain impeded aid and lowered hopes of finding survivors. An UN Agency put the estimated death toll at more than 670 people on May 25, 2024. The toll is expected to rise as the rescue operation is going on.
As rescue operations hit the fifth day, the officials have said the odds of finding survivors were slim in the difficult to access northern Erga region of the Pacific Region. Residents have been using shovels and their bare hands to search for survivors, and international media agency reported. A total of 150 structures were estimated to have been buried by the landslide.
The UN said that immediate needs included clean water, food, clothing, shelter items kitchen utensils medicine and hygiene kits and psychosocial efforts. Provincial authorities have also requested the international community to send engineers to carry out a geohazard assessment.
A state of emergency has been declared and across the disaster zone and neighbouring area with a combined population of between 4500 to 8000 although have been ordered to evacuate yet, Enga province disaster committee chairperson Sandis Taska said. A long running tribal conflict has made it harder for aid workers to access the site. Eight people were killed and thirty houses torched in fighting on May 25, 2024.
