The landslide hit a residential area of Gjerdrum, about 30 kilometers north of the capital Oslo. Police said more than 900 people had been evacuated from the area.
Rescue workers continued to search the area for children and adults they feared were trapped in mud and debris, police said.
“We are sure that there are people in the affected area, but we do not know if all 11 are there or if the number is smaller,” police spokesman Roger Pettersen told a news conference.
“We’re still looking for survivors,” he said.
Photos of the site showed a large crater with destroyed buildings at its bottom. Other buildings hung on the edges of the crater, TV footage showed. Two other houses collapsed in the crater on Wednesday afternoon, the NRK broadcaster reported.
Norwegian King Harald said the landslide made a deep impression on him.
“My thoughts are with all those who are affected, injured or lost their homes and those who now live in fear and uncertainty about the full scale of the catastrophe,” the 83-year-old monarch said in a statement royal. Palace.
Helicopters continued to float over the area as night fell, sometimes dropping emergency services to the wreckage of collapsed houses.
“There could be people caught … but at the same time we can’t be sure because it’s New Year’s Eve, which means people could be elsewhere,” Prime Minister Erna Solberg told reporters after visiting the site. ul.
The locals talked about their experience.
“There were two massive tremors that lasted a long time and I assumed the snow was clearing or something,” Oeystein Gjerdrum, 68, told NRK.
“Then the power suddenly went out and a neighbor came to the door and said we had to evacuate, so I woke the three grandchildren and told them to get dressed quickly.”
Earthquakes are still moving in what was one of the largest landslides in Norway’s recent history, Toril Hofshagen, the regional head of the Norwegian Directorate for Water Resources and Energy, told a news conference.