A landslide also hit Enga Province on 24 May 2024 at Maip Mulitaka. File picture. Photo: STR - AFP
It's been over a week since a landslide buried families alive in the small village of Kukas in Enga Province, Papua New Guinea.
"Some families, they lost most of their family members, leaving no one behind," Wabag MP office spokesperson, Geno Muspak, told RNZ Pacific.
The death toll has now risen to 22 with rescue workers still desperately trying to recover the bodies of those still under the earth.
For such a small community in PNG's Highlands, Muspak explained just how devastating the loss was.
"With Papua New Guinea being more culture oriented and being more attached to their family ties and all this, it's a great loss for the families, the community, the relatives," Muspak said.
"And it's a really sad moment and sad story for those people who lost their family members, especially the immediate family".
There are now concerns for others living near the site.
"At this recent landslide, there's a total of about more than more than 300 people who are living along the same place that experience the landslide recently," Muspak said.
"The disaster team is now working around the clock to see if they can relocate those people that are currently living along the same area."
He said rescue workers were still working to recover more bodies, with the death toll expected to rise.
Climate change
Speaking with elders impacted, Muspak said there had been no stories of landslides passed down by past generations, pointing to climate change.
"At this point in time where there's a lot of climate change, and the weather pattern is not like you know what we've been experiencing in the past, say, five to 10 years," Muspak said.
"As things are changing, times are changing, the weather is not good for us, or especially for people who are living in the remote places."
He said people wanted to move and find refuge in areas where it was safe to live, with flooding also an issue in parts.
"Because most of the places that we are currently living in right now, next to the rivers, next to the mountains, there's few things that you know we've never seen, ever happening at this point in time."
