Thousands likely buried alive following Papua New Guinea landslide | 7.30

[Applause] 4 days on comes the overwhelming [Music] grief an enormous Landslide slamming the village of yamali in remote Papu Guinea friends families loved ones farewell those [Music] lost among the morning mi Michael I my my hunties my cousins uh five of my cousins are buried I lost around within my tribe my classmate it's total of about 19 people and uh yeah I'm really spirital as here I'm sorry but yeah it's it's a natural disaster that that killed a lot of my family the landslide in Anger Province Northwest of the capital Port Mosby happened while many slept around 3:00 a.m. this satellite image shows the before and after homes and buildings Simple Wood structures stood no chance it's really heartbreaking to describe what had happened and uh people are still crying for help the survivors are still crying for help it's almost uh four days now today makes four days and the body is are still buried and this really sad scenario it has never happened in in the in the history of the province and is the first time in such a lens slide as never happen it it's it's really hard to describe it initial un estimates put the death toll at more than 670 but png's disaster agency says it believes more than 2,000 people have been buried alive the houses are buried the hundreds of houses still buried and they have no prop house to sleep they're calling for food supply slowly the food supp are going in so far only six bodies have been covered so they don't actually know the final death to some Aid agencies are struggling to access the site the first excavator reportedly to arrive was donated by a local Builder Care International is planning to send a team later this week the other complicating factors are that the ground is still moving so it makes it very difficult for Rescuers to get in and then yesterday one of the bridges along the highway collapsed so that further restricts uh relief efforts getting into the affected area The Village would be a normal rural Village in PNG it would be full of life there would be a lot of young people a lot of children running around uh people would be busy doing their gardening it would be it would be a lively Community where everyone knew everyone else yeah so in Australia members of the PNG Community are mobilizing support even as some grieve relatives a guy Lam is still trying to work out how many she lost in Guinea the our kinship is very strong we've got family members that I automatically knew were are involved so I was like oh my gosh what can I do I I was actually really impacted from this and I couldn't sleep what's going through my mind right now is just displaced children displaced families but there's anger too at the PNG government eggi says it's being too slow to act this is something that's really hurting I mean not to see people getting the help that they really need from government that is the really bad thing that um sort of as it's just yeah I'm I'm I'm just lost of words there about 8 or six M of dirt people are using Spades and ANS and whatnot like uncoordinated emergency response this is a [Music] joke back in PNG miok Michael says the land at yamali is unstable and fears another disaster they need more than that they need proper resettlement they are people they need to sleep in a good house and to Mo for their people people that are buried by the lens light so I'm calling on on authorities who we have the heart for the people please support [Music] us the Australian government has committed an initial Aid package of 2.5 million and is sending a specialized team to PNG tomorrow Pat Conroy is Minister for internet National development and the Pacific Pat corroy welcome to 7:30 thank you very much now what's the latest you've heard from PNG have you had any updates during the day today uh I've had limited updates uh during the day but truthfully information is quite Limited at the moment the site is very inaccessible uh helicopters are the primary way of reaching the site at the moment so information is scarce the best estimation from local agencies is that at least 150 homes have been wiped out and the death toll so far has been speculated of somewhere between 700 and perhaps 2,000 now we obviously we've seen people desperately with their hands um trying to reach people uh who are trapped what are the prospects for getting Machinery there that will enable that job to be done properly uh well some will be able to be transported by helicopters the rest will rely on the roads being cleared uh we uh have transported PNG uh emergency officials up via uh aircraft to mount Hagen airport and then helicopter to the site we've got a c17 transporting emergency uh assistance uh to Port msby tomorrow that will then transport it through uh Spartans and Hercules aircraft to mount Hagen and then the rest will be done by helicopters so until we get the roads cleared heavy equipment will be very hard to get up there and and I think you're sending tech technical expertise along with you've already obviously committed money what will that technical expertise consist of uh a team of 16 in The Disaster Assistance Response Team uh is in country this evening uh it's got three groups it's got uh representatives from Queensland fire and rescue it's got uh Department of Foreign Affairs officials and National Emergency Management agency officials he will have technical assistance around geohazards incident control they'll also be equipped with drones to map the site and identify uh quite frankly at this stage more more likely to be bodies rather than people living but those drones will be very valuable in obviously mapping the site so that's the initial assistance team and uh we stand ready to to move and build on the $25 million of assistance we've also provided we've also transported 750 family siiz shelters because obviously there's hundreds of people displaced at the moment around mulaka and and what do we know about the conditions the geological conditions is the site is the area around those villages in that Province actually stable now uh my advice is it's not uh and that the level of uh soil and mud covering uh covering the villages is 6 to8 M deep so there's extreme hazard there that's why that Disaster Assistance response team is so critical they're used to working with geologically unstable conditions often in urban areas with claps buildings uh and the drones will be critical but we're we're moving as fast as we can and we're also prepared to transport teams from other countries who've offered assistance and what else do you think Australia will be able to offer in the days ahead after this first team goes in what do you anticipate will be our followup well to some extent we'll be guided by the conditions there and their advice uh but I think more shelter will be required food and water and sanitation uh is critical to uh the survivors and then supporting lift of heavy equipment through ADF helicopters and aircraft is obviously critical uh and the ADF has been uh mobilized from early on Saturday to do that task so I think it'll be a combination of all those factors as well as increased financial assistance to humanitarian Partners such as Red Cross to drive on the ground support so that's on top of the 2 and a half million that Australia's already committed well we're ready to provide more if it's requested the 22 million was our initial assistance uh that's on top of the $630 million of Aid we provide to P&H year and for those people who've been injured who have survived but are injured do you know where they're going to be taken where's the nearest place that uh field hospitals can actually be set up uh I'm not aware of the exact details but there are a number of field hospitals in the province uh and further a field Mount hargen which is where we're basing the planes to then move the equipment onto helicopters is a large Highlands uh City so that it has medical facilities as well the prime minister of course was in the country uh not very long ago have you spoken to him since this happened uh uh uh not directly on this uh obviously I had many conversations since his return from Pap guini about um how that went and our support for Pap guini I've been a PNG six times in the last last 16 months it is our closest neighbor and one of our greatest friends and I'm horrified by what's occurred and I was exchanging messages with senior Ministers of the pap government only this afternoon uh where they thanked us for their support and I was very clear that we stand ready to provide whatever they need uh once they make those assessments now we understand there there are some complexities in PNG politics going on right now is that going to hinder the relief effort uh well I'm not in position to com uh commentate on the uh domestic politics in Pap guine that would be inappropriate all I can say is Communications has been very clear and direct uh within hours of the tragedy occurring our High Commissioner had talked to both prime minister Mora and the governor of enger Province we've been in regular contact with the PNG Defense Force and Emergency Management officials leading at a provincial and National level and that Communications is going very well as I said I communicated with senior ministers this evening and I know Penny Wong and Richard miles have also communicated with their counterparts so uh it's strong and we'll work really closely together to to get the people of PNG through this R tragedy and did you send personal messages or were these all official messages uh I sent personal messages and I know uh uh well I would imagine the other ministers have directly communicated rather than Through official channels and what did you all say oh I expressed obviously my condolences and I just heartfelt uh regrets about what has occurred and uh was very clear that uh we stand ready to support PNG just as they've supported us both in recent bush fires and floods but obviously through the darkest days of World War II so um I spent a lot of time with papinian ministers and our relationship is very close and uh we really stand ready to provide whatever assistance they deem necessary I just want to move on to ask you a question about uh about Gaza the foreign minister said today that Israel's strikes on Rafa had quote horrific and unacceptable consequences what is it about this particular attack that's caused the government that's caused the foreign minister to use such strong language uh well I personally was appalled by uh uh what occurred it is horrific uh we've been consistent in urging and requesting the government of Israel not to conduct an offensive in Rafa where half of the Palestinian or half of the 2.3 million Gaza population is residing at the moment uh so I think it's the nature of the attack we we've called on Israel uh uh to refrain from attacking uh Rafa we've called for an an immediate humanitarian ceasefire for the release of all the hostages by Hamas and immediate access for Urgent humanitarian assistance and that call can only cry go louder after the images overnight just tell me about those im images what is it particularly about this attack that's causing you to use the language you're using well to be frank images of refugee tents on fire is particularly Stark uh there's no other way around it um I horrified by it we again urge Israel not to conduct offensive operations in Rafa we urge Hamas to stop using civilians as human Shields and to release all hostages and we call for an urgent humanitarian ceasefire P Conroy thank you very much indeed for joining us this evening thank you

Channel: ABC News In-depth

Views: 210,811

Keywords: abc news, australian news, abc news indepth, documentaries, long-form journalism, abc 730, 730, papua new guinea, landslide, disaster, aid, rescue

Id: v7ebDV9LQwU

Length: 14min 3sec (843 seconds)

Published: Tue May 28 2024