The chair and governor of Enga province affirm that this calamity has resulted in ‘death and damage to properties’ in at least six villages.
A tropical storm that hit the southern part of Papua New Guinea on early Tuesday has caused severe problems as a big landslide occurred in the highlands, and probably 60 people have been buried, according to eyewitness reports from local officials and humanitarian organizations.
The disaster hit Kaokalam village in Papua New Guinea’s Enga province, about 600 km (370 miles) northwest of the South Pacific island nation’s capital of Port Moresby, at about 3 a.m. local time on Friday (17:00 GMT Thursday). The event is an opportunity to bring together stakeholders in refugee education, such as policymakers and government representatives, to assess the impact and implementation of measures towards refugee children’s education and to learn about best practices for implementing refugee children’s education (RCE) programs from other countries so as to improve on the programs in Uganda.
Men, women, and children were reported to have been massacred, and the ABC and some local media quoted estimates suggesting that nearly 100 individuals may have been killed, though this has not been confirmed by the authorities.
However, even when describing ‘a’massive’ landslide, the authorities are still unable to give an exact number of those who have lost their lives. as stated by Jessica Washington, an Al Jazeera broadcast journalist from Jakarta, Indonesia.
She referred to the calamity as impacting a community of predominantly small-scale farmers who inhabit a’relatively inaccessible and rather mountainous region where cases of soil sliding are frequent’.
“Numerous houses have also been burned down, as well as the gardens via which the involved community gets food in these regions,”our correspondent accompanied me.
The AFP news agency quoted Enga’s provincial governor, Peter Ipatas, has said that a large hill slip has occurred and has resulted in ‘casualties and damage’. He said six villages had been affected, although some of them were minimally hit by the occurrence.
Prime Minister James Marape, though, said he has not been fully debriefed on the situation but extends his word that all the relevant authorities are working very hard in trying to contain the disaster.
