Authorities in Papua New Guinea search for safer ground for thousands of landslide survivors

By ROD McGUIRK
Associated Press

MELBOURNE, Australia (AP) — Authorities in Papua New Guinea are searching for safer ground to relocate thousands of survivors at risk from a potential second landslide in the country’s highlands, while the arrival of heavy earth-moving equipment at the disaster site where hundreds are buried has been delayed. Emergency responders say that up to 8,000 people might need to be evacuated as the mass of boulders, earth and splintered trees that crushed the village of Yambali in the South Pacific island nation’s mountainous interior on Friday becomes increasingly unstable. But a CARE International official said on Wednesday a evacuation center near Yambali only has room for about 50 families. The official says local authorities are looking for additional land.