WHY I FIGHT

By A, anonymous for safety.

I am doing this because it is the right and only thing to do.

ExxonMobil and Co. have entered our tribal lands without our consent to extract our natural gas, and while this issue is still unresolved, their activities have caused great disasters which all have violated our human rights.

Our government refuses to defend us so we are forced to take on the the multibillion dollar oil and gas conglomerates. But we need your solidarity!

More than 200 people killed by the 2018 PNG Earthquakes, and 60 people killed during the Tumbi Quarry Landslide of 2012.

9 of my relatives died in the former and 7 in the latter disasters. The government of PNG (Papua New Guinea) is colluding with the multibillion dollar oil/gas conglomerates and refuse to setup an independent investigation.

Therefore I am taking the only option available, which is to go to court.

WHAT CAUSED THE DISASTERS

The Earthquake was caused by or exacerbated by the drilling/extracting activities of ExxonMobil in the nearby gasfields.

The Tumbi Quarry Landslide, which occurred 6 years earlier, was also caused by poor engineering/benching of the Quarry by ExxonMobil (who was using the quarry as source of rock aggregate for the construction of the LNG project).

The landslide was predicted 7 months earlier by an Independent consultant engaged by the financiers of the PNG LNG PROJECT (US EXIM bank, Australian EFIC etc) to audit the activities of ExxonMobil during the construction phase of the PNGLNG PROJECT.

ExxonMobil in collusion with the most corrupt Government of Papua New Guinea has been, since 2009, trespassing on private tribal lands located in Hides, Hela Province, and stealing natural gas to feed their liquefaction plant several hundred kilometres down the coast. To prevent the mostly illiterate and simple tribesmen from removing them by force, which has been attempted on many occasions, the government has sent in fully armed members of the military and the para-military police "riot squad" with orders to "shoot to kill" any of the tribal land owners that come near the ExxonMobil campsite with an aim to shutdown the operation.

Whilst the tribal groups are trying to get their greviences addressed by the powers that may-be, a landslide occurred in 2012 in which more than 60 people were buried alive.

The landslide debris from the side of the Hides mountain covered the Tumbi Quarry. The landslide debris flowed further down the mountain side and covered the Tumbi village, killing the 60+victims

The Tumbi Quarry was one of several operated by ExxonMobil as a source of rock aggregates during the construction of the PNG LNG Project. The Lenders of the PNG LNG Project, led by the US EXIM bank and Australian EFIC engaged an Independent environment and social Consultant (IESC) to audit the construction activities of ExxonMobil.

"... [the quarry] was left in an unstable condition from the standpoint of community safety after aggregates from this source was not wanted. This type of situation is considered a non-conformance ..."

The IESC's final report (link)

Other damning assessment made by the IESC are on page 51 paragraph 3 and onward.

7 months after the final report was handed in to the project funders, ExxonMobil, and the PNG Government, the Tumbi Quarry actually collapsed.

Link to a well researched report by an investigative journalist, Mr Ian Shean indicated will give a detailed analysis.

Given the circumstances, a concerned and responsible Government would want to leave no stone unturned as to the cause of the landslide but instead the Prime Minister, Peter O'Neil and the government of PNG sided with ExxonMobil and threatened the illiterate and unarmed tribal people with millitary threat, and released a report done by its engineers three days after the landslide, which declared that the cause of the disaster was due to "natural causes".

While we the tribal members are still trying to find closure to the TUMBI QUARRY LANDSLIDE DISASTER, another catastrophe struck in 2018.

The 2018 PNG EARTHQUAKES, measuring 7.5 on the Richter scale occurred February 23 during which my cousin and her 3 children were buried alive in a landslide. In the ensuing aftershocks that lasted for 11+months my uncle was killed by a falling tree branch and another cousin and her baby was crushed to death when the roof of their house collapsed on them.

Over 100 died in my district alone and many more in the other 7 of the 22 provinces in PNG that were severely affected.

More than 3-4 million people were displaced and Billions of dollars worth of damage to private and public infrastructure done.

Again we believe that these earthquake was induced by the activities because firstly, scientists have pinpointed the epicenter of the earthquake to located 7kms under the Hides mountain where the reservoir for the natural gas is located.

Secondly ExxonMobil was engaged in other suspicious activities prior to the mainshock. These were: the repatriation of all their workers out of the field leaving only a handful few; fully loaded cargo plane with bottled water flown in within 3-5hrs of the earthquake etc.

The government led by the Prime Minister as usual refused to get to inquire into the reason why the epicenter of the earthquake is located where ExxonMobil is using heavy hydraulic pumps and high-pressure pumps for the natural gas extraction as well as reinjection of brine/waste water back in to the Hides mountain.

Given all of the above i am left with no choice but to seek legal redress and secure justice for all my tribesmen, dead and alive.

Trigger warning: Death
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HOW CAN YOU SUPPORT

To win this fight, we need your support. Please donate, whatever you can afford. For this to work, we need help with sharing the campaign across the globe.

The money will be used to fund the legal challenge, and also rebuild our community and home.

THANK YOU