This handout photo from the International Organization for Migration shows people digging at the site of a landslide at Yambali Village in the region of Maip Mulitaka, in Papua New Guinea's Enga Province. Photo: AFP / Mohamud Omer
As people work to find survivors in the aftermath of a huge landslide in Papua New Guinea, the defence force is focused on moving survivors to higher ground.
The disaster - which struck early on Friday morning - was sparked by an earthquake in the Enga province, nearly 600 kilometres northwest of the capital Port Moresby.
More than 670 people are feared dead, according to the UN's International Organisation for Migration.
The UN estimates 150 houses may be under six to eight metres of rubble.
ABC's Papua New Guinea correspondent, Marian Faa says at least 4000 others have been affected.
People were digging with shovels and their bare hands as hopes faded for finding anyone else alive, she said.
A number of medical facilities had been destroyed and the remote terrain has made it difficult to get the emergency supplies and excavators to the area.
Photo: AFP
"It's an enormous disaster for this country - which is relatively small," aid agency CARE's country director in PNG Justine McMahon told Morning Report.
"Everyone was in their houses sleeping so there was no warning, it just engulfed up to 150 houses."
McMahon said the PNG and provincial governments were really proactive in the early stages of the disaster.
While the 2022 electoral roll data shows about 4000 people living in the area, McMahon said there couple be a couple of thousand people more there as many had moved to the area for safety.
"One of the great challenges at the moment is that the land is still unstable so it would be quite dangerous to bring in heavy earth moving equipment however the PNG defence force is on the ground and they're acting with urgency but with caution."
The priority was to move survivors to higher ground, she said.
More the 670 presumed dead after landslide in PNG