Activists on social media expressed sympathy with the residents of the village of Kaukalam in Inga State in Papua New Guinea, after they were surprised by a landslide while they were sleeping, which led to the burial of dozens of homes.
The collapse occurred at three in the morning last Friday, causing massive destruction, and it is still active until now, while rescue attempts by residents and relief workers continue.
The disaster was not limited to the material damage resulting from the collapse. Rather, what increased the cruelty of the event was that half of the population was buried alive under the rubble, while the National Disaster Center officially announced the death of more than two thousand people so far.
The depth of the debris resulting from the landslide reached 10 meters, and consisted of large rocks, trees, slippery soil and mud due to the meters falling.
Activists on social media interacted with the incident, expressing their regret for burying many residents underground. Hind said, “Unfortunately, the ongoing operations at the collapse site are operations to recover bodies and not rescue operations, because every person who was submerged in rubble (is certain to have) died.”
As for Muhammad, he spoke of growing serious concerns about the possibility of disease outbreaks due to decomposing bodies and polluted water in the landslide area.
Khairy also expressed his pain over the timing of the collapse, saying: “Oh Latif… what hurt me the most about this disaster was its timing, as the mountain collapsed at dawn and everyone died while they were sleeping.”
Away from the state of sympathy, Abdullah went on to talk about the lack of capabilities and the decline of the government’s role, saying: “I noticed in the circulating videos a limited effort by the local population to extract victims with the least capabilities and tools.”
Abdullah wondered: “Where is the government of this country? And where is the appropriate intervention to save people’s lives?!”
Manual digging for bodies
Four days after the disaster that struck Papua New Guinea, very few bodies had been recovered from the rubble; Because the soil is unstable, the location is remote, the main road is cut off, and it is impossible for heavy equipment to reach the stricken village.
Local residents appealed to the authorities to help them extract their relatives from the rubble of the collapse, and stressed that they would continue to search for them.
One resident said that they will continue working “tomorrow morning and every day,” adding, “We will draw strength from our food and will continue digging. We do not know where the bodies are buried, but we will not give up, and we will continue working.”
The spokesman pointed out that they work manually with shovels and iron rods to dig, saying, “If we are lucky, we will find the bodies, otherwise they will be buried forever.”
Papua New Guinea is located in the southwestern Pacific Ocean, near Australia. It is a Ring of Fire region, a collision point of tectonic plates, and constantly witnesses earthquakes.
About 4,000 people live in the village, and a quarter of them were displaced after the collapse that buried more than 150 homes, according to the International Organization for Migration.
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