Uploaded July 2024 | Updated September 2026, 3 days ago
On May 24, 2024, a rock avalanche-style landslide occurred near Yambali, Papua New Guinea. The slide received significant media coverage because, at one point, sources suggested as many as 2,000 people were buried by the slide. This estimate was later lowered significantly, but the slide certainly exacted a terrible human toll and blocked a major road in a hard-to-reach area.The slide occurred in a specific type of geologic setting, and geologic details visible with Google Earth show why the slide was so disastrous. This type of geologic framework is present throughout the world and contributes to many other slide events, but is rarely discussed or illustrated in media coverage of the slides. Coordinates of the location of the slide are below.
On May 24, 2024, a rock avalanche-style landslide occurred near Yambali, Papua New Guinea. The slide received significant media coverage because, at one point, sources suggested as many as 2,000 people were buried by the slide. This estimate was later lowered significantly, but the slide certainly exacted a terrible human toll and blocked a major road in a hard-to-reach area.The slide occurred in a specific type of geologic setting, and geologic details visible with Google Earth show why the slide was so disastrous. This type of geologic framework is present throughout the world and contributes to many other slide events, but is rarely discussed or illustrated in media coverage of the slides. Coordinates of the location of the slide are below.
