Several dead and 1,000 homes destroyed in the Papua New Guinea earthquake | Earthquake news

The quake occurred as the remote western region was already facing floods earlier this month.

Several people were killed and about 1,000 homes were destroyed in a 6.9-magnitude earthquake that struck a remote area in western Papua New Guinea, officials said.

The earthquake shook East Sepik at about 6:20 a.m. on Sunday (20:20 GMT Saturday) near the town of Ambunte, about 756 kilometers (470 miles) northwest of the capital, Port Moresby.

East Sepik Governor Alan Baird wrote on Facebook that the earthquake “caused damage to most parts of the province.”

“Unfortunately we already have many victims,” he added, adding that authorities are “still assessing the impact,” but about 1,000 homes have been “lost” so far.

Initial reports put the death toll at at least three, while regional police chief Christopher Tamari told AFP news agency on Monday that at least five deaths had been recorded and warned that the number could be higher as rescue efforts continued.

Dozens of villages on the banks of the Sepik River in the country were already facing widespread flooding since earlier in March when the earthquake struck.

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.

“The floods actually cover an area of ​​over 800 kilometers (497 miles), so there are about 60 or 70 villages affected along the Sepik River,” Baird told the Australian Broadcasting Corporation (ABC) on Monday.

“The floods were not their biggest problem. They were handling it with confidence because it was something they were used to,” Byrd said. “It was an earthquake that no one was prepared for. That would have caused the most damage by now.

Bird said there was an urgent need to get medical supplies, clean drinking water and temporary shelter to the disaster area.

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.

Papua New Guinea, an island nation in the South Pacific located north of Australia, was hit by two earthquakes in April last year, including a 7.0-magnitude quake that killed four people in the remote northern part of the country.

The country was hit by two earthquakes in April last year, including a 7.0 magnitude earthquake that killed four people in the remote northern part of the country.

It later emerged that a 7.6-magnitude earthquake struck a remote area of ​​the island in September 2022, killing 21 people.

In recent months, the island has also seen civil unrest, with riots killing 15 people in January. Dozens were also killed in violence in the northern highlands last month.

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