Landslides hit third country in 24 hours dead in Fiji and Pakistan

January 26, 2012 – FIJI – A couple and their two young children are confirmed to have died in a landslide in flood-stricken Fiji. Their deaths bring to six the number killed in flooding and landslides in the west of the main island Viti Levu. Police have confirmed that the couple, in their 30s, and their their two daughters, aged three and one, were in a house in the Ba district of north western Vita Levu, the Fiji Broadcasting Corporation reports. Earlier in the week a man died in Labasa and another died in Ba. Parts of Nadi, Ba, and Rakiraki were on Thursday declared natural disaster zones. The permanent secretary of information, Sharon Smith-Johns, says the military, police and personnel from non-government organizations and the Red Cross are heading to the affected areas. Ms Smith-Johns says 3400 people are in evacuation centers and more than 100 homes may have been destroyed by the floods. A disaster response advisor for the United Nations, Peter Muller, says attempts to evaluate damage from the floods are being hampered by the remoteness of some communities and bridges which have been washed away by swollen rivers. Mr Muller says the rains have stopped for the time being and floodwaters are receding but the respite may be short lived with the rain set to return within 24 hours. Foreign Affairs Minister Murray McCully says New Zealand will give $350,000 to the Fiji Red Cross and other agencies to assist efforts in the aftermath of the flooding. –Radio New Zealand

Mansehra, PAKISTAN – Police say at least nine miners are feared dead after they were buried by a large landslide in northwest Pakistan. Local police officer Ali Zia says the phosphate miners were eating lunch Wednesday in the mountain village of Tharnawai in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province when the accident occurred. Zia said rescue efforts have been hampered by bad weather and the inability to get heavy machinery to the site. It had been snowing and raining before the slide occurred. Eyewitness Mohammad Khurshid Awan said rescue workers were using shovels in an attempt to uncover the buried miners. Zia, the police officer, said no bodies have yet been recovered. –Dawn

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