NBC and the Post-Courier have issued worrying reports on the disaster efforts in Tumbi. All energies are being directed at helping ExxonMobil, while the victims are left to suffer in silence. 

Govt told to honour agreement

Post Courier, 9 February, 2012

SETTLERS at the LNG project area want the Government and developer ExxonMobil to fulfill the relocation exercise signed in the agreements before the Tumbi debris is cleared and LNG road link reopened.

Hides landowner Chief Yokoya Piwago and Kobalu Chief Ega Ango said the Tumbi disaster should prompt the State and developer to speed up the relocation process before the start of the LNG project. Mr Piwago wants the LNG stakeholders to explain why they failed to deliver the relocation exercise and 25 of his immediate relatives perished and buried under the debris.

He said by the Government using the police and army to remove the debris and reopen the road showed it did not have concern for its citizens, their rights and their welfare. Mr Piwago said that policemen were heavily present at Tumbi to force the locals out of the area without due respect for the genuine landowners who perished in the disaster and were still buried.
Kobalu Chief Ango called on the police to be wary of using excessive force as the landowners were fighting for their rights that were overlooked which were simple and appropriate such as relocation of people.

Mr Ango said due to their failure the disaster had claimed the lives of the landowners who would have lived today if not of the LNG developments.
He asked the Government to be more realistic on whose interest it was serving - to get the maximum benefit for its citizens or serve the developer.

“It disappoints and brings fear on us when excessive force is used by the Government to reopen the road without fulfilling the documented and signed agreements for the safety of the locals,” he said.

Chief Ango said his people wanted the Government and the developer to deliver the promised packages with emphasizes on relocation as the priority and follow suit with other promised commitments made to the landowners.

He said those agreements penned at the Kokopo UBSA and LBBSA were important commitments ever made but the deliverance part of it was slow and urged the Government to also rectify before the debris were cleared.

“They said today we are fighting and tomorrow you our fellow Papua New Guineans will fight when such situation arises in your area and urged the locals serving in the project and State agents to fall behind them,” he said.

They want the State and developer to:
* retrieve the bodies in good shape to process for funeral service;
* fully comply with relocation exercise immediately before the reopening of the road;
* other promised benefits to be delivered and ;
* if not complied, he urged the locals to withhold their equipment and labor workforce so that the expatriates can be employed to work.

They said Papua New Guineans must stand together to fight for their common good and in this case show respect for those who perished as part of their culture

LNG Landowners Bloc Vulunpindi Haus

NBC News 9 February 2012

Photo: LOs outside Vulunpindi Haus

ExxonMobil Claim Tumbi Landowners are Lying

ExxonMobil has just informed PNGindustrynews.net that "there was no need for [PNG LNG-related] blasting at this [Tumbi] quarry". This directly contradicts testimony given by local landowners, who claim blasting occurred at the quarry at the centre of the deadly landslide which killed approximately 26 people. 


For example, on 29 January 2012, Timothy Nogobe informed LNG Watch: 

"We have ... come to conclude that what has  triggered the landslide is the quarry and the use of chemicals and dynamite to blast the quarry at the top of the mountain, this has changed the ground water (Tumbi and Tuku) for the rapid breakdown of the mountain Tumbi burying alive more than 25 people".

Clearly, this is a core evidentiary issue that now needs to be clarified; among many other. 


Unfortunately it wont be clarified. In a clear breach of basic due process, those who stand accused of negligence, the PNG government and ExxonMobil are already colluding to ensure they get their stories straight. 


Indeed it was observed today in the Post-Courier: "Local authorities have had closed door meetings with the Local Disaster Management team, developers Oil Search and Exxonmobil, disaster officers from Port Moresby, Police and other stakeholders". Very cosy indeed and how transparent and independent. When will the NGOs, community groups and traditional landowner representatives be allowed into these closed door meetings.


On another note, we have also seen a shoddy pieces of research conducted by the National Disaster Committee, which has been slammed by international landslide experts, being paraded by the industry as fact: "There are claims blasting at the Tumbi quarry may have contributed to the landslide. But the NDC’s report found the landslide was caused by continuous heavy rainfall which weakened the underlying limestone and resulted in subsidence" (PNG Industry News, 8/2/12). If this was a balanced report, surely it should at least cite the eloquent response by Prof Dave Petley.


Sadly balance has gone out the window with the Tumbi disaster.


The whitewash is well under way.  

Money for ExxonMobil Yes; Money for Victims No!

This was published today by the Post-Courier/Pacnews, note the contrast to our previous post. This is reflective of a state that is run by and for the elite.


More than two weeks after the Tumbi landslip at Hides near the multi-billion kina LNG project site in Tari and authorities have made no efforts to retrieve the 25 or more bodies still buried in the landslide.

Hela Provincial Police Commander Supt John Anawe, who is co-ordinating the emergency and relief centre at Nogoli, said it would take some time before rescue workers move in and try to retrieve the bodies believed to be buried alive in the January 25 disaster.

Supt Anawe said it was likely that a mass graveyard would be declared in the landslide site if efforts to retrieve the bodies fail.

He said officers from the National Disaster Office in Port Moresby visited the disaster site last week and they were yet to finalise relief assistance to the relatives and victims of the disaster.

In the last few days, local authorities have had closed door meetings with the Local Disaster Management team, developers Oil Search and Exxonmobil, disaster officers from Port Moresby, Police and other stakeholders. 

The outcome has not be established so far.

Meanwhile, locals told the Post-Courier at the disaster site yesterday evening that the authorities are yet to give them relief support and compensation money.

This is despite the K10m that has been allocated last week by the National Government for emergency assistance to those affected by the landslip.

Locals also said the disaster was caused by heavy explosions, drilling and the development of the quarry for the LNG project and Exxonmobil must take full responsibility for the lives lost and properties destroyed in the disaster.

They also warned that they would not allow work to re-open in Nogoli, Hides and Komo highway if they are not compensated.

Fuel and supplies bound for the LNG sites at Komo and Hides 4 areas are fast running out due to the road blocks, and work on the LNG sites have been disrupted for two weeks now..


SOURCE: POST COURIER/PACNEWS

$4.5 Million US to Help ExxonMobil the 'True Victim' of the Tumbi Landslide

Can you believe it, the national government hasnt the resources to put together an investigation report on the Tumbi disaster that would pass 1st year university, but they can clear the road for their friends ExxonMobil. 


Landslide stops work at ExxonMobil's airport project


Radio New Zealand, 8 February 2012


The Papua New Guinea government has allocated more than four and a half million US dollars to clear a road damaged by a recent landslide, so that the Exxon Mobil airport project can resume in the Southern Highlands region.

The landslide struck in the vicinity of Exxon Mobil’s liquified natural gas project’s Nogoli base, burying a village and killing at least 25 people.

The minister for Transport and Works, Francis Awesa, says Exxon Mobil has also contributed money to have the road cleared.

Mr Awesa says it will benefit villagers in the Komo district as well as Exxon Mobil’s airport project, which has come to a halt since the landslide.

“In the Komo area work stopped because there’s no fuel, you can’t get fuel in there because the road is blocked so we’re trying to get the road cleared in order to get fuel in there and people, villagers and government officials moving in and out of the area, and then the project personnel and contractors.”

Francis Awesa says they hope to get road access in the next few weeks.

The National and the Salvation Army Aid and Abet ExxonMobil

At the moment it is not clear whether Esso Highlands (ExxonMobil subsidiary) is liable for the landslide in Tumbi. The government, as we predicted, are trying to whitewash the whole affair; using the tragedy of the Rabaul Queen as a diversion. 


And the media is happy to play its part by failing to ask absolutely basic and essential questions. Worse still, The National has come out and published Esso Highland's latest press release as a news report. Corporate public relations offensives, particularly in light of possible criminality, should not be given free air play; if they want to advertise their efforts, let them pay for an advertisement. 


Furthermore, the Salvation Army (see below) should be ashamed of itself. By taking money from a key suspect in this affair, they are now complicit if any criminal activity is uncovered with respect to this disaster. 


The Press Release

The News Report

Esso assists in relief efforts

The National, Wednesday 08th Febuary 2012

ESSO Highlands Ltd, operator of the LNG project, has donated K179,000 to support relief efforts following the landslide in Southern Highlands.
The amount will be given to the Papua New Guinea Salvation Army.
It includes a K41,000 donation made last year to the Salvation Army Red Shield Appeal.

The Salvation Army will use the money to support the affected people in the Hides area.

Esso managing director Peter Graham said the thoughts of all their employees and contractors were with the people affected by the landslide.

“This is a difficult time for families in the area who are mourning their loved ones,” he said.

“Our support for the Salvation Army will go toward assisting these families.

“We continue to offer our support to the government and the community and have already provided assistance in the form of transportation, food and temporary housing.

“We stand ready and willing to assist the government in their efforts.”
Major Rex Johnson, the Salvation Army’s secretary for programmes, welcomed the support.

“This donation will enable the Salvation Army to carry out its disaster management and relief work in a more efficient and effective way. Our prayers are with the families affected by the landslide in the Hides area.”

Landslide Expert Appraises National Disaster Commission Report on Tumbi Landslide

By Prof Dave Petley

Wilson Professor of Hazard and Risk in the Department of Geography at Durham University in the United Kingdom. 

(Originally Posted on the Landslide Blog)

The National Disaster Council of Papua New Guinea has posted online a report into the Tumbi Quarry landslide (see previous posts here, here, and here).  Presumably this is the “official investigation” that was promised.  They should be credited with making this available online, and the document has some useful information on, and images of, the landslide.  It is also helpful to get the official view on the landslide event, and there is a management plan for the victims and survivors of the accident.

However, there are aspects of the report that are perhaps interesting, as follows:

1. The report only very briefly mentions the quarry.  The report states that “naturally high geological weaknesses assisted by abnormally high rain fall combined to cause subsidence to the immediate north west of the quarry triggering a landslide of composite debris.”  The image on the front cover clearly shows a part of the quarry, with some of the benches truncated by the lateral margin of the landslide:

The report is ambiguous as to whether this means that the landslide was associated with the quarry.  It maybe that the quarry access / haul road also crossed the area now destroyed by the landslide (as per the Esso Highlands plan), and yet this is also not discussed.  Clearly at least a part of the quarry was lost in the landslide, so a proper discussion of whether the quarry played a role in activating these weaknesses seems essential to me.

Note also that these naturally-occurring geological weaknesses are not described or discussed (I assume that this means a set of joints?), and the mechanism of “subsidence” is also quite strange.

2. The landslide trigger is definitively described as being rainfall, on the basis that there was no recorded seismicity.  However, although “continuous heavy rainfall” is described, there is no data to support this, and no eye-witness reports.  The next sentence talks about “abnormally high rainfall”, but I can find no other reference to this event.  I wonder what evidence there is for this abnormal rainfall event, given the high rainfall that this area is likely to receive anyway.

3. There are odd aspects of the landslide mechanism as described in the report  First, the report notes that pools and seepage on the shear face indicate that the “ground water rose significantly above its historical levels”.  I do not understand this logic.  Seepage and pools are likely to occur in the aftermath of almost any deep landslide of this type, and I do not see why they indicate that the groundwater levels were abnormally high, or indeed that groundwater even played a substantial role.  Second, the report notes that the initial assessment team “saw clear evidence of liquefaction of the rock formation”.  This is most surprising.  Limestone is not a material that undergoes liquefaction – I have never heard of such a mechanism in a hard rock – and so I just cannot understand this purported process.  Unfortunately, it is not discussed further.

So overall, whilst the description of the site is really helpful, though it would be good to see a more detailed consideration of the ways in which the quarry might have been a factor in activating these geological weaknesses.  In designing a quarry it is normal practice to ensure that such natural weaknesses are not exposed to the point that they can permit slope failure to occur.

To my mind this report should not be considered to be the definitive analysis of this landslide.  Much more detailed analysis is needed, and lessons need to be learnt in terms of other slopes in Papua New Guinea.