Ian Skinner, the New Guinea Civil Defense Director, chartered a plane with a medical team and supplies
the following Monday. Australian officers were also told to charter all available planes to help evacuate
survivors, and the Red Cross was called into action. In all, more than 100 men were involved in the dig
and stayed for over a week. Several smaller landslides occurred during that time, but there were no
more major landslides.
Once help arrived, the searchers soon found galvanized iron from the roof of their house, their two-way
radio, clothing, Walt’s glasses, the package of photos Vonnie had carried with her, some of their papers
plus the newsletter with the Bible verse from Isaiah 55:8-9. The photos were of each family in the
village. Vonnie had picked them up from the Print Shop at Ukarumpa the Thursday before she left for
the village. She had planned to send those photos back to their supporters, asking them to pray for each
family in the village by name that the Lord would change their lives. Because the negatives of the
photographs found were all in good shape, they were taken back to Ukarumpa where Edith Nelson was
put in charge of sending the photos to the Steinkrauses supporters for prayer.
Photos recovered at landslide area. (Photo Courtesy of SIL PNG Branch Archives)
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