The International Organization for Migration on Sunday increased its estimate of the number of dead from a massive landslide in Papua New Guinea more than 670 as emergency personnel and traumatized family members have given up hope that survivors will now be found.
Serhan Aktoprak, head of the UN migration agency's mission in the South Pacific island nation, said the revised death toll was based on calculations by officials in Yambali village and Enga province that more than 150 houses had been buried by Friday's landslide. The previous estimate was 60 homes.
“They estimate that over 670 people (are) underground right now,” Aktoprak told The Associated Press.
Mohamud Omer/International Organization for Migration via AP
Local officials had initially put the death toll at 100 or more on Friday. Only five bodies and a leg of a sixth victim had been recovered on Sunday, when a bulldozer donated by a local builder became the first piece of mechanical earth-moving equipment to join the recovery effort .
Rescue teams moved survivors to safer ground on Sunday as tons of unstable ground and tribal wars, which are prevalent in Papua New Guinea's highlands, threatened the rescue effort.
About 250 additional homes have been condemned since the landslide because of the still-shifting terrain, and an estimated 1,250 people were left homeless, officials said.
Mohamud Omer/International Organization for Migration via AP
Meanwhile, the national government is considering whether to officially request more international support.
Crews have given up hope of finding survivors under ground and debris 6 to 8 meters (20 to 26 feet) deep.
“People are coming to terms with this, so there is a serious level of grief and mourning,” Aktoprak said.
He said the new death toll estimate was “not robust” because it was based on the region's average family size per household. I would not speculate on the possibility that the actual toll is higher.
“It's hard to say. We want to be pretty realistic,” Aktoprak said. “We don't want to reach any figure that inflates reality.”
Government authorities were setting up evacuation centers on safer ground on either side of the huge swath of debris that covers an area of three or four football fields and has cut off the main road through the province.
Alongside the blocked highway, convoys that have been carrying food, water and other essential supplies since Saturday to the devastated village 60 kilometers (35 miles) from the provincial capital, Wabag, have faced related risks with the tribal fighting in the village of Tambitanis, about half way. route Papua New Guinean soldiers provided security for the convoys.
Kafuri Yaro/UNDP Papua New Guinea via AP
Eight locals were killed on Saturday in a clash between two rival clans in a long-standing dispute unrelated to the landslide. About 30 homes and five retail businesses were burned during the fighting, local officials said.
Aktoprak said he did not expect tribal fighters to target the convoys, but noted that opportunistic criminals could take advantage of the chaos to do so.
“This could basically end in robbery or carjacking,” Aktoprak said. “Not only is there a concern for the safety and security of staff, but also for the goods because they can use this chaos as a means to steal.”
Long-running tribal warfare has cast doubt on the official estimate that nearly 4,000 people were living in the village when a side of Mount Mungalo collapsed. The count was years old and did not take into account people who had moved to the village more recently to escape clan violence that government authorities are unable to contain.
Justine McMahon, country director of humanitarian agency CARE International, said moving survivors to “more stable ground” was an immediate priority along with providing them with food, water and shelter. The military led these efforts.
The number of injured and missing was still being assessed on Sunday. Seven people, including a child, had received medical attention Saturday, but officials did not have details on their conditions.
Mohamud Omer/International Organization for Migration via AP
Papua New Guinea's Defense Minister Billy Joseph and the director of the government's National Disaster Center Laso Mana flew from Port Moresby by helicopter to Wabag on Sunday to get a first-hand perspective of what is needed.
Aktoprak expected the government to decide on Tuesday whether to officially request more international aid.
The United States and Australia, a close neighbor and Papua New Guinea's most generous foreign aid provider, are among the governments that have publicly signaled their willingness to do more to help responders.
Papua New Guinea is a diverse and developing nation with 800 languages and 10 million people who are mostly subsistence farmers.
