Landslide hits remote Papua New Guinea village.

I have a heavy heart this morning after receiving news from friends in Papua New Guinea about a dreadful landslide in the Enga Province. It is now believed that more than 680 people are missing and presumed dead and more than 150 houses have been destroyed in the village of Kaokalam in the Mulitaka region.
www.abc.net.au/news/2024-05-25/remote-papua-new-guinea-vi...

This story strikes close to home. You see in the early 1960s (when I was a small boy) our family lived in this exact location. My parents were missionaries, and my father and local Christians built the church you can see in picture 2 above. I have some rich and very fond memories of this time, and perhaps some of the children I played with have been affected by this awful disaster.

The five slides above were all taken by my father and so let me describe them by number:

1. This map was prepared by my parents in 1963 to show friends in Australia exactly where we lived. Today the line to the mission shows almost the exact location of the tragedy.

2. The mission station is seen alongside the road. You can see a younger me at bottom left striding down this road with great intent. Behind the mission is Mangalo, a uniquely shaped mountain that can be seen in the background of some of the recent video footage.

3. In the foreground of this picture stands a local warrior who had come to pay us a visit. Mangalo is in the background. This mountain was sacred to the Enga people and played a big role in their original creation stories.

4. From the hills behind where the village gardens are, the mission can be seen in the valley. The landslide has taken place in the mountains in the background here.

5. This is a road building project of the time, but it gives you some idea of the kind of ground that broke away from the mountainside and buried an entire village on May 24, 2024.

The disaster struck at 3.00am while villagers slept. At the moment the authorities, who have had a difficult time even getting to the region, are engaged in a recovery operation. Our thoughts and prayers go out for these beautiful people.

The latest news: Thousands feared dead.
www.abc.net.au/news/2024-05-28/the-challenges-landslide-r...

PLEASE NOTE:
Due to the ridiculous quirks of Flickr's Explore algorithm, this tribute note has been Explored. I will most definitely block anybody who simply says "Congrats on Explore" and doesn't show me that they have even contemplated the seriousness of this very sad disaster. In fact I can't even know if such 'people' aren't bots. Sorry to be belligerent, but if you can't even properly look at and read what this message is about then you will be blocked!

Taken on: May 26, 2024

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Luminosity7

Launceston

Australia

Historic photographs

Papua New Guinea

Landslide disaster

Enga Province

Landslide hits remote Papua New Guinea village.

Mulitaka

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