PORT MORESBY: It is “very unlikely” more survivors of Papua New Guinea’s deadly landslide will be found, a UN agency warned Tuesday, as thousands at risk from further slips were ordered to evacuate.
Some 2,000 people are feared buried by a massive landslide that entombed a remote highland community in the early hours of May 24.
Since then, locals have been picking through a hellscape of meters-deep churned-up earth, uprooted trees and car-sized boulders in the search for loved ones — often using little more than their hands, shovels and digging sticks.
But hopes are dimming that anyone is alive underneath the mountain of rubble.
“It is not a rescue mission, it is a recovery mission,” UNICEF Papua New Guinea’s Niels Kraaier said. “It is very unlikely they will have survived.”
Full-scale rescue and relief efforts have been severely hampered by the remote location, the only road link being severed, heavy rainfall and nearby tribal violence.
The Papua New Guinea Defense Forces have struggled to access the site with heavy earth-moving equipment.
Early on Tuesday, Enga provincial administrator Sandis Tsaka warned the disaster could worsen further, as clumps of limestone, dirt and rock continue to shear off the side of Mount Mungalo.
Tsaka said authorities were now trying to coordinate the evacuation of almost 7,900 more people.
“The tragedy is still active,” he said. “Every hour you can hear rock breaking — it is like a bomb or gunshot and the rocks keep falling down.”
Aid officials said many residents were refusing to leave at-risk areas because they were holding out hope of finding loved ones.
Satellite images show the enormous scale of the disaster.
A vast smear of yellow and grey debris can be seen cutting through once verdant bushland and severing the region’s only road.
“This was an area heavily populated with homes, businesses, churches and schools, it has been completely wiped out. It is the surface of the moon — it is just rocks,” said Tsaka.
“People are digging with their hands and fingers,” he said, expressing anguish at the unde-resourced government’s inability to meet the enormity of the disaster.
“I am not equipped to deal with this tragedy,” Tsaka admitted.
Overwhelmed Papua New Guinea authorities held an online emergency meeting with United Nations agencies and international allies Tuesday, hoping to kickstart the relief effort.
Papua New Guinea’s national disaster center has told the United Nations that the initial “landslide buried more than 2,000 people alive.”
According to a letter obtained by AFP, the slide also “caused major destruction to buildings, food gardens and caused major impact on the economic lifeline of the country.”
The scale of the catastrophe required “immediate and collaborative actions from all players,” it added, including the army, and national and provincial responders.
Australia has announced millions of dollars worth of aid, including emergency relief supplies such as shelters, hygiene kits and support for women and children.
China’s President Xi Jinping and his US counterpart Joe Biden — more accustomed to scrapping for influence in the strategically located country — both offered assistance.
More than 1,000 people have already been displaced by the catastrophe, aid agencies have estimated.
UN Development Programme official Nicholas Booth said up to 30,000 people could have been cut off by the disaster across several villages.
These communities had enough supplies for the coming weeks, but opening up that road remained essential, he said.
“This landslide has blocked the road westward, so not only are there challenges in accessing the village itself, but it does mean the communities beyond that are also cut off.”
Locals said the landslip may have been triggered by recent heavy rains.
Papua New Guinea has one of the wettest climates in the world, and research has found shifting rainfall patterns linked to climate change could exacerbate the risk of landslides.
The estimated death toll has climbed significantly since the disaster struck, as officials reassess the size of the population.
Many people fleeing tribal violence have moved into the area in the past few years.
The area is located about 600 kilometers from Port Moresby.
‘Unlikely’ to be more survivors from Papua New Guinea landslide
https://arab.news/bfm7d
‘Unlikely’ to be more survivors from Papua New Guinea landslide
- Some 2,000 people are feared buried by a massive landslide that entombed a remote highland community
- Full-scale rescue and relief efforts have been severely hampered by the remote location
Polish FM says EU must end benefits for exiled Ukrainian men to help Kyiv's call for more troops to fight Russian forces
- Of more than 4.1 million Ukrainians on temporary protection status in the EU, 22 percent are adult males
- Many Ukrainian men have reportedly fled abroad to avoid military service by bribing their way out
KYIV: European governments should halt welfare benefits to Ukrainian men of military age who are living in their countries, Poland’s foreign minister said, a measure he said would help Ukraine call up more troops to fight Russian forces.
Following a meeting in Kyiv with his Ukrainian counterpart, Poland’s Radoslaw Sikorski said ending social benefits for Ukrainian male refugees would also benefit state finances in host countries in Western Europe.
More than 4.1 million Ukrainians had temporary protection status in European Union countries as of July this year, and about 22 percent of them were adult men, according to data from the EU statistics office, Eurostat.
“Stop paying those social security payments for people who are eligible for the Ukrainian draft. There should be no financial incentives for avoiding the draft in Ukraine,” Sikorski said at a conference of international leaders in Kyiv. “It’s not a human right to be paid to avoid the draft, to defend your country. We in Poland don’t do it.”
Ukrainian Foreign Minister Andrii Sybiha welcomed Sikorski’s call. “It’s time really to raise the question of the European Union developing programs to return Ukrainians home. Certainly, appropriate conditions should be created for this. But this should be on the agenda. And I support the idea of Minister Sikorski,” Sybiha said.
Nearly 31 months into the war against Russia and with Moscow’s forces slowly but steadily advancing in eastern Ukraine, Kyiv needs more soldiers to maintain its defense lines, rotate out exhausted troops and make up for losses.
Russia has a significant advantage in staff numbers and weapons on the battlefield.
Earlier this year, Ukraine adopted new legislation and implemented other measures, including lowering the call-up age for combat duty to 25 from 27 to increase the pace of mobilization into the army.
Under the new law, Kyiv ordered Ukrainian men living abroad to renew their military draft information online and encouraged them to return to Ukraine and join the fight.
Ukraine imposed martial law at the start of Russia’s invasion in February 2022, banning men aged 18 to 60 from traveling abroad without special permission and beginning a rolling mobilization of civilian men into the armed forces.
But many men of military age have still fled abroad to avoid the draft amid reports of corruption in the army recruitment system, allowing some men to bribe their way out of army service.
Nigerian army rescues 13 hostages from extremist group
- Kidnappings have become common in parts of northern Nigeria, where dozens of armed groups take advantage of a limited security presence to carry out attacks in village
ABUJA, Nigeria: Nigerian troops have rescued 13 hostages who were kidnapped by an extremist group in the northwestern state of Kaduna, the country’s army said on Saturday.
The army said in a statement that “the troops successfully overwhelmed the terrorists, forcing them to abandon their captives.”
Several kidnappers were killed and others captured, the military added. It didn’t specify what armed group the kidnappers belonged to.
The rescued hostages were taken to a military facility for a medical assessment before being reunited with their families. Weapons, ammunition, solar panels and cash were also discovered during the rescue operation.
Kidnappings have become common in parts of northern Nigeria, where dozens of armed groups take advantage of a limited security presence to carry out attacks in villages and along major roads. Most victims are released only after the payment of ransoms that sometimes run into the thousands of dollars.
At least 1,400 students have been taken from Nigerian schools since the 2014 kidnapping of 276 schoolgirls by Boko Haram militants in the village of Chibok in Borno state shocked the world.
Boko Haram, Nigeria’s homegrown jihadi rebels, launched its insurgency in 2009 to establish Islamic Shariah law in the country. At least 35,000 people have been killed and 2.1 million people displaced as a result of the extremist violence, according to UN agencies in Nigeria.
G7 foreign ministers condemn Iran’s export of ballistic missiles to Russia
- Iran has provided Russia with a large number of powerful surface-to-surface ballistic missiles
ROME: The foreign ministers of the Group of Seven (G7) industrialized powers condemned on Saturday “in the strongest terms” Iran’s export and Russia’s procurement of Iranian ballistic missiles.
Iran has provided Russia with a large number of powerful surface-to-surface ballistic missiles, deepening the military cooperation between the two countries, which are both under US sanctions.
“Iran must immediately cease all support to Russia’s illegal and unjustifiable war against Ukraine and halt such transfers of ballistic missiles, UAVs (drones) and related technology, which constitute a direct threat to the Ukrainian people as well as European and international security more broadly,” the G7 ministers said in a statement.
“We remain steadfast in our commitment to hold Iran to account for its unacceptable support for Russia’s illegal war in Ukraine that further undermines global security. In line with our previous statements on the matter, we are already responding with new and significant measures.”
Italy currently holds the presidency of the G7 group of wealthy nations which also includes the United States, Japan, Germany, Britain, France and Canada.
British PM breached parliament’s rules over clothing donations to wife — Sunday Times
- Sunday Times said those donations were declared but the clothes given to his wife were not
LONDON: British Prime Minister Keir Starmer has breached parliamentary rules by not declaring a wealthy businessman and Labour Party donor bought high-end clothes for his wife Victoria, the Sunday Times reported on Saturday.
According to the Sunday Times, Starmer, in power since July, faces an investigation after “neglecting to disclose” that major Labour donor Waheed Alli covered the cost of a personal shopper, clothes and alterations for his wife.
The premier’s registered financial interests, listed on the parliament’s website, show that he has received several donations from Alli, including multiple pairs of glasses, work clothes and accommodation.
The Sunday Times said those donations were declared but the clothes given to his wife were not.
A spokesperson for 10 Downing Street said in a statement sent to Reuters that Starmer and his team had sought advice from authorities on coming to office, and believed they had been compliant.
“However, following further interrogation this month, we’ve declared further items,” the spokesperson said.
Alli is British media entrepreneur and former chairman of the online fashion retailer ASOS.
Under the House of Commons code of conduct, members of parliament have to provide information about financial interests which might reasonably be thought to influence their work.
A Conservative Party spokesperson called for a full investigation over “apparent serious breaches of parliamentary rules.”
Pope Francis calls for lasting solution to Palestinian cause
- Pope commended King Abdullah’s ongoing diplomatic efforts
LONDON: Pope Francis has reiterated the need for a just and lasting resolution to the Palestinian issue, warning that failure to achieve this goal would only lead to continued violence and instability in the region, it was reported by the Catholic Center for Studies and Media in Jordan on Saturday.
The pope highlighted the ongoing humanitarian crisis in Gaza and the West Bank, and praised Jordan’s King Abdullah II’s support for the Palestinian people.
The king has facilitated daily humanitarian aid to the area, delivered by the Jordan Armed Forces via air and land, since the conflict between Israel and Hamas broke out in October.
The pope commended King Abdullah’s ongoing diplomatic efforts, noting his active role in international forums where he consistently advocates for Palestinian rights.
According to Pope Francis, the king has repeatedly warned that true peace, security, and prosperity in the Middle East can only be achieved by resolving the Palestinian issue, including the establishment of an independent Palestinian state.
Pope Francis also lauded Jordan’s clear and firm stance on the Palestinian cause, highlighting the country’s efforts to keep global attention on the issue and to condemn violations against the Palestinian people under occupation.
He also expressed deep concern over the prolonged war on Gaza. He voiced regret over the international community’s failure to take meaningful action to end the war and achieve peace.
Addressing Israel’s bombing of schools that sheltered displaced civilians, the pope condemned the attacks, particularly when such strikes are justified by the presumption of fighters being present.
“It is bad, it is bad, it is bad,” he said. The pope also rejected the argument that the ongoing war is purely defensive, highlighting the number of children among the victims.
