Six bodies were found miles from a flash flood which hit the Nenga people of Mul District in Western Highlands Province last week.
On the ground, more than 3000 people are hungry, while some are homeless, after the flood washed away food gardens and houses. The affected locals are still waiting for relief supplies, or some sort of help from their local MP and the disaster office.
The bodies of the six people were brought to their home village in Mt Mul over the weekend. Among the six were four children, a teenager, and an old man. Another body is still missing. Four of the bodies are from one council ward, while the three others are from the other two neighboring council wards.
The mud and the flash flood hit the local Nenga people last Monday afternoon, around 3 to 4 pm. There was no rain to cause the little Kuma River to flood, but nature took its own course and killed seven people, washed away houses, food gardens, bridges, and carried away two excavators, and some other properties.
Right now the people are cut off from the outside world, and their food gardens and houses destroyed by the flood, have seen them short of food for almost a week.
They can’t build new houses and grow food overnight, with the trauma of losing their loved ones, as well as their properties. They are now seeking help from their local MP, the disaster office and kind-hearted people to donate cash or kind to keep them going.
Western Highlands Provincial Government has bought the caskets of the six bodies that were found.
By Vasinatta Yama, EM TV – Mt Hagen
