Australian Air Force personnel unload aid packages from an aircraft near the site of a deadly landslide in Papua New Guinea, May 29, 2024.
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The United Nations warned Thursday of a “high risk of disease outbreaks” among survivors of a deadly landslide in Papua New Guinea, saying they do not have enough food and clean water.
Six days after an entire community in a remote mountainous area of the country was buried under a torrent of dirt and rocks, the United Nations migration agency warned of contamination of water sources.
“Streams flowing through the debris are now polluted and pose a significant risk of disease outbreaks,” the agency said in a report.
“No methods are used to treat the water to make it drinkable,” the agency said, warning of the risk of survivors contracting malaria or developing diarrhea.
The landslide also cut off access to this area, which has not yet been cleared, making it difficult for rescue and emergency teams to reach.
Access to clean water, purification pills and food supplies are among the most important priorities identified by the United Nations International Organization for Migration.
Since the May 24 landslide, survivors from the villages of Yambili and Labak have been digging with their bare hands in search of their relatives.
Eyewitnesses claim that the smell of inactive bodies became unbearable.
Local authorities indicated that between six and eleven bodies were recovered.
Eyewitnesses claim that the smell of inactive bodies became unbearable
France Press agency
The official balance can grow significantly when heavy machinery arrives to excavate the disaster area, which extends over an area of 90,000 square metres.
The country’s government estimated that the avalanche buried about 2,000 people, but satellite image analysis experts, diplomats, emergency specialists and local authorities consider this number an exaggeration.
“This is the kind of loss of life you would see in a city with a landslide of this size,” said David Beatley, a landslide expert at the University of Hull.
“The previous photos do not support the idea that there is such a concentration of people there,” he said.
State Governor Sandis Tsaka told AFP on Thursday that the death toll may be “hundreds” rather than thousands.
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