Landslide destroys homes, gardens

By ELIAS LARI
HUNDREDS of people living at Kindeng in Jiwaka have lost homes, food gardens and coffee trees in a landslide on Jan 22.
The landslide was the first the people of the area have experienced.
People fled their homes as they saw the landslide destroying coffee gardens, houses and food gardens.
Peter Lo, who lost more than 2,000 mature coffee trees and food gardens, said this was the biggest disaster to affect them in a long time.
He said with the continuous rain many people throughout the country were hit by floods and landslides.
Lo said such a disaster caused untold suffering because the people depended on their land.
He said his coffee trees were his main source of income.
Lo said the national and the provincial disaster offices must now attend to areas that had been affected.
He said some people whose gardens and houses had been destroyed would suffer for months and they needed urgent government help.
Lo said many people were subsistence farmers and land was very important to them.
Lo said natural disasters were common in some parts of the country, especially in the Highlands.
He said some of the affected people had reported the matter to provincial disaster offices but little had been done to help them.