Comment: So sad, that countries and America thinks uranium is more important than people!May 11, 2011 · 6:11 am
Twenty-one people have been confirmed shot dead by Porgera mine security guards while another 59 people have been killed as a result of mine activities, according to a report presented at an international convention in Canada. The report was presented at the convention by the Porgera Landowners Association chairman Mark Tony Ekepa.
The report, says The National newspaper, claims 80 people, including children, have died while 68 more people have been injured as a result of mine activities.
The report also records environmental damage and health impacts. The Anjolek and Anawe dumps are reported to have caused massive destruction as the mine discharge “created mud floods, causing numerous deaths” and health defects were high because of the unclean environment, air pollution and waste disposal.
Ekepa says 21 deaths were caused by PJV gun shots, 24 injuries from gun shots, 24 deaths from drowning caused by the Anawe and Anjolek dumps, 33 deaths caused by other mining-related activities, four deaths by torture, 44 injuries by torture and 14 rapes by mine guards. Ekepa says the way to address the mine-related deaths “is to permanently resettle the landowners from the special mine lease area”.
He says if the government and the developer continued to ignore the call for the relocation of the 10,000 people, “more lives will be lost as the people have no choice but to go look for something to eat after their traditional food gardens have been destroyed”. He is calling on the government and its agencies and departments to immediately address the landowner grievances and not to continue to allow investors to overexploit the resources and people.
Read more:
http://ramumine.wordpress.com/2011/05/11/eighty-people-killed-by-porgera-mine-operations-in-papua-new-guinea/
