News
Sad! Over 2000 people buried alive in new tragedy
By Kayode Sanni-Arewa
More than 2,000 people are thought to have been buried alive by last Friday’s landslip, a Papua New Guinea government official informed the UN and the country has formally requested international assistance.
The UN estimated that 670 people were killed in the landslip in the rugged interior of the South Pacific island nation; the government estimate is almost three times higher. As of Monday, local authorities had only retrieved the remains of five persons. The reason behind revising the Sunday-reported total of six was not immediately apparent.
The interim head of the nation’s National Disaster Centre, Luseta Laso Mana, said in a letter to the UN resident coordinator dated Sunday that the landslip “buried more than 2,000 people alive” and caused “major destruction” in Yambali village in Enga province.
According to Agence France-Presse, the letter stated that the landslip “caused major destruction to buildings, food gardens and caused major impact on the economic lifeline of the country.”
Since the tragedy, estimates of the death toll have fluctuated greatly, and it was not immediately evident how authorities arrived at the precise number of casualties.
Without new information, the International Organisation for Migration, collaborating closely with the government and spearheading the global response, has not modified the 670 estimated deaths reported on Sunday.
“We are not able to dispute what the government, suggests but we are not able to comment on it,” said Serhan Aktoprak, chief of the UN migrant agency’s mission in Papua New Guinea.
“As time goes in such a massive undertaking, the number will remain fluid,” Aktoprak added.
Officials from Yambali village and the Enga province calculated that over 150 dwellings had been submerged by the landslip, which led to the 670 death toll. Sixty dwellings had been the projection from before.
James Marape, the prime minister of Papua New Guinea, has yet to answer a request for clarification on the basis of the government estimate of 2,000 on Monday. When details regarding the extent of the damage and the number of casualties become available, Marape has pledged to make them public.
Due to tough conditions on the ground, such as the village’s remote position, a lack of telecommunications, and tribal fighting throughout the province, it is impossible to determine the true extent of the tragedy. As a result, military escorts are required for foreign rescue workers and assistance convoys.
In a conflict between two warring tribes in Enga in February, at least 26 tribal warriors and mercenaries were slain, along with an unknown number of onlookers.
The difficulties in ascertaining the possible death toll are further compounded by the national government’s absence of trustworthy census data.
The population of Papua New Guinea is estimated by the government to be approximately 10 million, while research conducted by the United Nations in 2022, using data from satellite images of rooftops, suggested that the number might reach up to 17 million. The country has not conducted a precise census in many years.
Additionally, a 200-meter (650-foot) section of the province’s main highway was submerged in debris that was 6 to 8 metres (20 to 26 feet) thick, posing a significant challenge for relief workers.
Mana predicted that the landslide would significantly affect the nation’s economy.
The first large piece of heavy equipment to assist the locals in searching for bodies with shovels and farming implements is an excavator, which a local builder provided on Sunday. It’s dangerous to work around the still-shifting rubble.
Mana wrote to the UN that “the situation remains unstable” because of the shifting earth, “posing ongoing danger to both the rescue teams and survivors alike.”
Billy Joseph, the minister of defence for Mana and Papua New Guinea, travelled 600 kilometres (370 miles) northwest to Yambali on Sunday in an Australian military chopper to obtain a firsthand understanding of what is required.
Mana’s office posted a picture of Mana at Yambali giving a local official a cheque for 500,000 kina ($130,000) to purchase supplies for 4,000 displaced survivors.
The visit’s main goal was to determine if the government of Papua New Guinea needed to formally request further foreign support.
The military of Papua New Guinea was transporting earthmoving equipment to the disaster site, which was 250 kilometres away from Lae on the east coast.
According to officials, traumatised locals are divided on whether or not to allow heavy machinery to dig up and maybe further injure the bodies of their buried relatives.
Since the landslide on Friday, according to Australian Defence Minister Richard Marles, his staff have communicated with their counterparts in Papua New Guinea.
“The exact nature of the support that we do provide will play out over the coming days,” Marles told the Australian Broadcasting Corp.
“We’ve obviously (have) airlift capacity to get people there. There may be other equipment that we can bring to bear in terms of the search and rescue (and other matters) … that we are talking through with PNG right now,” Marles added.
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News
LASG shuts down Idera market over ‘environmental pollution
By Kayode Sanni-Arewa
The Lagos State Environmental Sanitation Corps (LAGESC) says it has sealed off the Idera market in the Oshodi metropolis.
In a statement on Thursday, Ajayi Lukman, LAGESC spokesperson, said the agency sealed the market due to unhygienic practices and indiscriminate dumping of refuse, which contravened the environmental law of the state.
He said the measure was taken to enforce adherence to environmental cleanliness across registered markets in the state.
‘‘Our operatives stationed across the Oshodi division during routine market monitoring identified the filth, unhygienic practices, and indiscriminate dumping of refuse around the Idera Market area, which prompted us to seal off the market until further notice,” the statement reads.
Lukman quoted Olaniyi Cole, the corps marshal of the agency, as decrying the level of hygiene at the market, which could lead to an outbreak of diseases.
He said Cole frowned at the inability of the market leadership to provide a valid waste collection contract, which resulted in the heaps of refuse in the facility.
He added that the display of wares for sale on road setbacks, lay-bys, medians, verges, kerbs, street trading, and hawking remained banned in the metropolis.
The LAGESC corps marshal reiterated the ban on the sales, distribution, and usage of styrofoam in the state, noting that anyone found culpable would be punished decisively.
News
Hours to Edo guber polls, major opposition candidate crumbles structure for Ighodalo
By Kayode Sanni-Arewa
Hours to the Edo State governorship election, the guber candidate of the All Peoples Party (APP)Amb Osalumese Areloegbe on Thursday morning collapsed the structure for the governorship candidate of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), Dr. Asue Ighodalo and his running mate, Osarodion Ogie Esq.
Addressing journalists at the party secretariat in Benin City, Areloegbe said his decision to collapse the structure for the PDP candidate was because he believed that Ighodalo had all it would take to govern the state to greater heights.
According to him, I urged all my followers and supporters to disregard any information that I have aligned with the All Progressives Congress (APC) governorship candidate, Senator Monday Okpebholo.
“I am supporting Asue Ighodalo because he is competent, not that I am not competent but I believe Asue is on the forefront. That is my reason for supporting his candidacy.
“My party is aware because they have been having a series of negotiations for us to align with the APC, and I told them categorically that I am supporting PDP. My eighteen local government followers are in full support of my decision, I mean 100 per cent supporting the PDP candidate, Barr. Asue Ighodalo and his running mate, Barr. Osarodion Ogie in this election.
“My choice for Asue Ighodalo is because, apart from myself, I see him as the next better candidate that I can support and I can put my weight on because he has the capacity, mentally, physically and otherwise to pilot the affairs of Edo State to greater heights.
“The national secretariat of my party, APP – they are in Abuja and I am in the state, and know much more of what is happening in Edo State. They are not here and don’t know what is going on here in Edo. And I am in a position to tell them what will be better for the Edo people.
“There is a parable that says, ‘You cannot shave a man’s head when he is not present’. I am here in Edo State and I know who to support and why I am supporting him. The national leadership might have taken a different tone, but this is what I and my followers have chosen.
“We had a series of other politicians who had made such decisions before. That is why I agreed with the support of my supporters to collapse my structure for the governorship candidate of the PDP Barr. Asue Ighodalo and his running mate, Barr. Osarodion Ogie.”
News
SAD! Woman reportedly d!3s in Osun building c0llapse
By Kayode Sanni-Arewa
A resident of Ifetedo in Osun State, simply identified as Idowu, had reportedly died in an incident of collapse building that occurred in the town.
The collapsed structure was said to be a dilapidated building that suddenly caved in and killed the woman.
A resident of Ifetedo, simply identified as Ogunyemi, while speaking to The PUNCH on Thursday, said operatives of the Nigeria Security and Civil Defence Corps, responding to a distress call, were at the scene of the incident.
Some NSCDC operatives rushed to the scene after they were informed of the incident. They were joined by some other people in the community.
Idowu was the only person in the building when the incident happened. She was brought out dead from the rubble.
“The incident caused panic in Omiloode Area, where the building is located. The building that collapsed is a dilapidated structure,” Ogunyemi said.
Osun NSCDC Public Relations Officer, Kehind Adeleke, when contacted confirmed the incident, adding that the scene was immediately cordoned off by security men.
“An abandoned dilapidated building located along Omiloode Street, Ifetedo collapsed and killed one Mrs Idowu, who was said to be around the structure when the incident happened.
“The tragic incident occurred at about 17:30 hours on Tuesday.
“Officers and men of NSCDC Ife South Division, upon getting information rushed to the scene of the incident for rescue operation. But unfortunately, the woman had passed on. She was brought out of the rubble dead. The site was immediately cordoned off,” Adeleke said.
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