ISTANBUL, June 6 — The Papua New Guinea government has announced it will relocate the affected residents of a massive landslide away from the hazardous site after over 2,000 people were killed.
Anadolu Agency reported Prime Minister James Marape has revealed a plan to evacuate the 7,849 affected people from the Mulitaka disaster zone to a temporary location within Enga province.
Arrangements for their permanent resettlement are being made, local media reported.
"The state will acquire land away from the disaster site, within the vicinity of the area, and we will properly settle people away from the unstable area," he said today.
Geotechnical assessments conducted by experts from New Zealand and Australian defence forces observed that the disaster zone remained unstable.
The experts recommended evacuation and infrastructure changes in the region, including the construction of a new bypass road, as the current road buried under rubble remains vulnerable to additional landslides.
The pre-dawn landslide occurred on May 24, burying homes, infrastructure, and farmland under up to eight metres of soil and debris. The Oceanian government estimates that more than 2,000 people were buried under the soil.
— Bernama