Five dead and 1,000 homes destroyed in the Papua New Guinea earthquake

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At least five people were killed and an estimated 1,000 homes were destroyed when a 6.9-magnitude earthquake struck Papua New Guinea, officials said Monday, as disaster teams streamed into the region.

Dozens of villages on the banks of the country's famous Sepik River were already struggling with flooding when the quake struck early Sunday morning.

“So far, about 1,000 homes have been lost,” East Sepik Governor Alan Baird said, adding that emergency teams were “still assessing the impact” of the quake that “damaged most parts of the province.”

Regional police chief Christopher Tamari told AFP that the authorities had so far recorded five deaths following the disaster.

Tamari warned that with emergency crews still present in the remote, forested area, the number of deaths “could be higher.”

Images showed destroyed wooden houses with thatched roofs collapsing in surrounding floodwaters, while an old bridge in the provincial capital of Wewak collapsed under the pressure.

Regional Governor Baird said there was an urgent need for medical supplies, clean drinking water and temporary shelter in the disaster area.

Prime Minister James Marape has approved a US$130 million emergency funding package to aid recovery efforts following a “wave of natural disasters” across the country.

“Papua New Guinea was recently hit hard by the earthquake, flooding caused by torrential rains, ensuing landslides, tidal surges, strong winds and more,” he said in a statement on Sunday evening after the quake.

Floods, landslides and heavy rains earlier this month killed at least 23 people in Papua New Guinea's inland highlands region.

The Sepik River winds for hundreds of kilometers through Papua New Guinea's East Sepik Province, flowing from the jungle highlands towards the tropical coast.

Largely untouched by urban development and industry, this river is one of the country's last pristine waterways – and the longest river on the island.

The area is full of native species and rare plants, and has in the past been called the planet's “second Amazon.”

Earthquakes are common in Papua New Guinea, which sits atop the seismic “Ring of Fire,” an arc of intense tectonic activity that extends across Southeast Asia and across the Pacific Basin.

Although they rarely cause widespread damage in sparsely populated forest uplands, they can cause devastating landslides.

Many of the island nation's nine million citizens live outside major towns and cities, where difficult terrain and a lack of closed roads can seriously hamper search and rescue efforts.

Papua New Guinea is the 16th most vulnerable in the world to climate change and natural hazards, according to the 2022 Global Risk Index.

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