Landslides buried two houses on Wednesday in Afaahiti, southeast of Tahiti, after a week of heavy rain. Nine people were wanted on Wednesday, Alexandre Rochatte, the Republic’s High Commissioner in French Polynesia, said at an on-site press conference.
The landslide in the town of around 6,000 people occurred at dawn. “The landslide was 30 meters high. The first house was swept away and wedged into the second house,” explained Alexandre Rochatte.
“We were woken up, as if there was a train right in front of the house, we came out and saw the house completely covered in dirt and mud,” testified Ida Labbeyi, a neighbor.
Dozens of houses were evacuated
“We have moved, we had two aftershocks in the last three hours,” Colonel Olivier Lhote, deputy director of Civil Protection, which is leading the relief operation, said at a news conference.
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“We have two locations and we move very slowly using excavators, dogs, radar and endoscope cameras, because at any time, we could overload potential victims,” he said. Family and neighbors are supported by the psychological unit at the gymnasium.
“Twelve or thirteen houses were evacuated for safety and people were rehoused,” said French Polynesian President Moetai Brotherson, who was also at the scene.
In total, forty firefighters, 20 police, SAMU, two surveillance drones and one Dauphin army helicopter were deployed.
