Page 14 - IB April 2018

Cover Story

PNG Prime Minister Peter O’Neill. Photo: Maisen Hungito 15-year-old Taunda Mope lost his entire family of seven. Photo: Raguel Kepas
Late reaction to a killer quake

many and too big.
The medical team are confronted with
the severity of the initial death toll and This is now a
the psychological trauma of the disaster.
Taunda Mope, a 15-year-old primary grave site. Where
school student follows the team to the site.
His entire family - his father, mother, an we can’t find
By Scott Waide uncle and four siblings are the ones buried
under the landslip. His face painted with
ON the morning of 26 February, a 7.5 mud to show he’s in mourning, Taunda them, we’ve put
magnitude earthquake struck the high- stands expressionless without any tears,
lands of Papua New Guinea. The epicenter, as the community leaders talk about his flowers
according to seismology reports, was lo- tragedy to Dr. Kiak.
cated close to the multibillion dollar Exon A male relative of his clan cries as a
Mobil LNG site in Papua New Guinea’s community member tells Taunda’s story.
Hela Province. On the landslip a few metres away, two they had no food and water. Relief work
Villages closest to the epicenter, were elderly men wail in sorrow over the loss has picked up pace. But the slow delivery
the worst hit. and their inability to find the bodies. A and sluggish response from the govern-
In Timu, a village near the LNG gas young boy plants flowers on the landslip. ment was heavily criticised by the Papua
pipeline route, the earthquake triggered a “This is now a grave site. Where we New Guinea public.
landslide that buried eleven people. Un- can’t find them, we’ve put flowers,” he
der several metres of the debris, villagers says. Public demands answers
found the bodies of a mother, her baby Several kilometres away, over very dif- In Tari, the provincial capital of Hela
and an older boy. ficult terrain, another group of victims are Province, a crowd gathers at the airfield
In Hela Province, the task of count- counting their losses. seeking answers as to why relief and
ing the dead is being done by a medical Villagers from Fau and Aiya spent at medical evacuations were not happening
team of three led by Dr. Tana Kiak. On the least a day walking from their destroyed “as quickly as the choppers that came for
third day after the quake, Dr. Kiak began homes to Huiya mission station where the ExxonMobil operations.”
travelling out to the different locations to an airstrip, school and church are located. Many who live there know that the Tari
identify and certify the deaths. This is the closest area in the earthquake temperament can sometimes be difficult
“We should have been out there on zone that seemed stable enough for people to manage. A government officer stands
the first day after the quake happened,” to gather. at the fence to explain why the choppers
he says. “We should have had choppers “This is now a care centre,” says a local are delayed.
available for assessment and medical community leader. “They can’t sleep in the “You have to give them an explanation,”
teams. But I am glad that we are doing houses because they’re afraid.” he says. “If not, they get angry and they
it now.” At Fau and Aiya, 12 people died. From react.”
When a medical team arrived at Timu Huiya village the damage is evident. The
to verify the reports and assess the dam- hamlets are hidden from site, buried under
age, the people tell them that seven are still the soil that slipped from the mountain Relief trickles in
buried under the landslip. It is impossible sides. None of the dead were recovered. Several kilometres from Tari, at the Moro
to dig them out because the rocks are too Three weeks ago when they gathered, airfield operated by Papua New Guinean

14 Islands Business, April 2018