Family to be repatriated

By LULU MARK
THE bodies of a man, his wife and their two-year-old baby girl found buried in a landslide in a settlement in Kimbe early Wednesday are awaiting repatriation to their province.
Acting provincial police commander Senior Inspt Daniel Yangen identified the dead as Moses Lela from Kumbaga village in Tambul-Nebilyer, Western Highlands, his wife Mary Ipiri Moses from Pare village in Ialibu, Southern Highlands, and their daughter Melissa Moses.
Dr Joseph Nale, the West New Britain health authority director of public health and the provincial disaster office chairman, said it was the second incident this year linked to the unpredictable weather pattern.
An infant was buried alive in an earlier landslide at Section 27 settlement.
Nale blamed the poor construction of retention walls in the settlements as a contributing factor to the incidents.
He said the big challenge was that the relevant authorities had not put in place a system to manage urban squatter settlements.
“Because there is ineffective regulation of this squatter settlements, people are digging the hill sides and constructing homes,” Nale said.
“Without proper construction of retention walls, these homes are at risk of collapsing, particularly in such extreme weather conditions.
“Others on the hill sides are being warned.
“But without Government interventions, these warnings will not be heeded. Insp Yangen warned people living near rivers who use bags of cement to fortify their homes to take extra precaution when it rained.
“Move to safer places,” Yangen said.