On 24 May 2024, a landslide shook Enga Province in central Papua New Guinea. I am confused with the stories if only one village or more are wiped out, but several hundreds are missing. One report tallied 100+ initial deaths, another 1 000+; more than 3 000 live in one village, most missing. With the disaster having happened in a secluded area in a not very known country, picking the news up had been slow; it might be faster than rescue efforts as the area is mountainous, but informing the world is slower, that it took 18 hours after me getting aware of the catastrophe for one landslide article to reach my social media news feed.
What bring events from countries with lesser significance to major headlines are either records (e.g., the Tongan volcano that sent shockwaves around the world in 2022) or effects on others (e.g., 2024 Solomon Islands elections due to the PR China-West rift). Otherwise, we expect little coverage. This happened in Mogadishu, Somalia on 14 October 2017, where two truck bombings killed 587 people. Reaction to the attack was muted compared to the Sinai mosque attack the following month that killed 311. You most likely failed to see a Somalian flag on users' profile pictures compared to the 2015 attacks in Paris, and you have known mass shootings in the United States more than the Somalian attack, just because it's in Somalia, and the country is suffering from conflict since.
Does it require more contribution to the global economy in order for one country to have significance? I wouldn't blame you if you fail to name even a single small island developing state (SIDS, mainly in the Caribbean and Oceania) or locate at least one in the world map, yet I am appalled to let the world not know of what are happening inside such countries.
I understand it is hard to cover such events; the tools and resources in these countries are limited. But welcome to the Internet Age; international news agencies should have more anchors in or connections with journalists from these regions. Outlets that are most capable of reporting events therein include BBC, The Guardian and al-Jazeera, and those like Africanews, ABC News (Australia) and RNZ further ease the spread of information.
But please, priority for these countries that are less privileged due to smaller economies and fewer tools should be increased so they can catch up, and they can receive whatever help they need. Imagine being a relative of a loved one buried in the PNG landslide.
Article posted on 25 May 2024, 18:51 (UTC +08:00).
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