Rescue efforts continue in remote Papua New Guinea village following massive landslide

Rescue efforts are continuing in a remote village of Papua New Guinea's Enga province which was left flattened by Friday's devastating landslide, though emergency teams have been struggling to reach the affected site with road access being largely blocked off.

The landslide struck in the early hours of Friday while many people were asleep at home. The disaster is feared to have killed hundreds, though the official number of casualties has yet to be announced.

Local media reported on Saturday that more than 300 people were thought to have been buried by the landslide which has leveled dozens of homes in the remote village, located some 600 kilometers north of the capital Port Moresby.

Gorethy Kenneth, a journalist from Papua New Guinea's Post Courier newspaper, said the government had sent out a dedicated natural disaster team alongside healthcare workers and police to the location of the landslide, but noted that rescuers are encountering difficulties due to the area's tough terrain.

"We have Papua New Guinea's defense force rescue team already on its way to the Enga province to assist the Enga provincial government [to] carry on with the rescue operations that they have had [ongoing] since the incident has happened, the landslide. The location is geographically very hard to access. You can only have helicopters access that place. The ones (victims) that are alive have naturally been taken to a safer location by the Enga provincial government," said Kenneth.

The Enga provincial government has also dispatched an assessment team to provide guidance during the ongoing rescue operation, while the affected region and other highland provinces are on high alert as the threat of more landslides looms large amid the country's continuing wet season.

Rescue efforts continue in remote Papua New Guinea village following massive landslide

Rescue efforts continue in remote Papua New Guinea village following massive landslide

Rescue efforts continue in remote Papua New Guinea village following massive landslide

Rescue efforts continue in remote Papua New Guinea village following massive landslide

Rescue efforts continue in remote Papua New Guinea village following massive landslide

China's investment in fixed assets maintained steady growth in the first five months of 2024, accompanied by ongoing optimization of the investment structure, an official from the National Bureau of Statistics (NBS) told a press conference in Beijing on Monday.

Driven by the advancements in high-end, smart, and green manufacturing, investment in the manufacturing sector has posted strong growth momentum since the beginning of the year, according to the NBS,.

From January to May, investment in the manufacturing sector grew by 9.6 percent year on year, 5.6 percentage points faster than that of the total investment and contributing 57.3 percent to the growth of the total investment.

Notably, investment in high-tech industries has continued to expand, while investment in equipment upgrading and technological transformation has experienced accelerated growth.

"With the robust support of policies for large-scale upgrading of equipment, investment in the purchase of machinery and equipment showed a good growth momentum. In the January-May period, such investment increased by 17.5 percent year on year, outpacing the growth in the January-April period by 0.3 percentage points. Besides, there has been an accelerated pace of transformation and upgrading of traditional industries. During the same period, investment in technology transformation in the manufacturing sector grew by 10 percent year on year, marking a 1.5-percentage-point acceleration," said NBS spokeswoman Liu Aihua.

In addition, investment in major projects played a crucial role during the first five months, with completed investments in projects each with a planned total investment of 100 million yuan or more recording a year-on-year growth of 8.5 percent, driving a 4.6-percentage-point rise in the nation's total investment.

Looking ahead, China has broad space to increase effective investment and has huge investment potential in aspects such as innovation-driven development, transformation and upgrading, green transition, and people's livelihood, said the official.

China's investment in fixed assets grows steadily in Jan-May period