Landslide triggered by heavy rainfall, killed at least 22 people in rural Papua New Guinea

Dave Petley
eos.org
Fri, 31 Oct 2025 12:06 UTC

© Ben Mcpitu

Villagers work to recover bodies after a landslide in Papua New Guinea's Enga province.

At about 2 am on 31 October 2025, a landslide struck a rural community at Kukas in Enga Province, Papua New Guinea. News reports suggest that it was triggered by heavy rainfall and that 22 bodies have been recovered to date, but that the final toll may be as high as 30 people.

Loyal readers will know that tracking down landslides in rural PNG is a major challenge - the quality of baseline mapping of villages is quite poor. However, an ABC News report indicates that the landslide occurred in the vicinity of Pausa, so I think the most likely location is in the region of [-5.67878, 143.91848]:-

The likely location of the 25 October 2025 landslide at Kukas in PNG.

We will need to wait for Planet imagery to confirm, noting of course that PNG is notoriously cloudy.

There is a post on Facebook by a local from Kukas, Ben Mcpitu, that contains a short video of the site. Please be cautious, the post includes an picture of some of the victims. The post is here. It also includes a video of the aftermath of the landslide, from which this is a still:-

The aftermath of the 25 October 2025 landslide at Kukas in PNG.
The aftermath of the 25 October 2025 landslide at Kukas in PNG. Still from a video posted to Facebook by Ben Mcpitu.

Assuming that this is indeed the site, this appears to have been a failure high on the slope in a natural gully. Note that the regolith has been stripped backin the mid-slope area, possibly to bedrock. The news reports indicate that at least one house, and possibly as many as three houses, were directly in the path of the landslide. Given the timing in the early hours of the morning, there would have been little chance to escape. However, the ABC report also describes the capricious nature of risk:

Mr Tumu [the deputy principal at a nearby school] said the dead were mostly visitors from a neighbouring village about 5 kilometres away that was undergoing local government elections.

"It came in force, and then it just covered the old house that they stayed [in] last night," he said.