Devastation

Satellite imagery shows scale of devastation after Papua New Guinea landslide

By Rob Picheta, Angus Watson, Sophie Jeong, Heather Chen, Lucas Lilieholm and Teele Rebane

Images from the air and the ground have revealed the huge breadth of the devastating landslide that has left as many as 2,000 people buried under rubble in Papua New Guinea.

Satellite imagery from before and after the landslide show a vast section of the landscape in the mountainous Enga region essentially torn away.

The vast size of the slide is even more visible from nearer the ground. More than 150 houses in Yambali village were buried in debris, officials said Sunday. The country’s National Disaster Center said almost 2,000 were feared to be buried.

The landslide hit the remote village of Kaokalam, about 600 kilometers (372 miles) northwest of the capital Port Moresby, at approximately 3 a.m. local time on Friday (1 p.m. Thursday ET), leaving a scar of debris that humanitarian workers said was as big as four football fields.

The phenomenon slammed tons of rock and mud into locals’ homes as they slept, and rescuers struggled to reach such a remote part of what is already one of Asia’s poorest nations, leaving villagers with no choice but to dig through the collapsed mountainside with whatever tools they had.

The area has remained unstable, with smaller landslides occurring regularly and endangering rescue workers, Sandis Tsaka told CNN.

“We’re getting huge rocks and debris that keep falling down and land further beyond the original landslide area are being impacted,” Tsaka said. He added the government had ordered nearly 7,000 people to evacuate.

Evit Kambu said after the disaster that she had lost more than a dozen family members.

“I have 18 of my family members buried under the debris and soil that I am standing on and a lot more family members in the village I cannot count,” she told Reuters. “I am the landowner here … but I cannot retrieve the bodies so I am standing here helplessly.”

Papua New Guinea is home to around 10 million people. Its vast mountainous terrain and lack of roads have made it difficult to access the affected area.

Miok Michael, a local community leader, told CNN that it was likely there were few survivors. “People are gathering and mourning,” he said. “People have been digging since day one but can’t locate bodies as they are covered by huge rocks. Only machines will do.”