The 7.6 earthquake struck on Sunday morning. Photo / PNG News and Current Affairs
The 7.6 earthquake struck on Sunday morning. Photo / PNG News and Current Affairs
At least three people are dead after a powerful earthquake hit a remote part of Papua New Guinea on Sunday morning, authorities say. Others were injured and infrastructure damaged in the magnitude 7.6 jolt that was felt across the Pacific country.
The three people died in a landslide in the gold-mining town of Wau, said Morobe Provincial Disaster Director Charley Masange. Other people had been injured from falling structures or debris, and there was damage to some health centers, homes, rural roads and highways, Masange told The Associated Press.
Masange said it could take some time to assess the full extent of the injuries and damage in the region. But he said the sparse and scattered population and lack of large buildings near the epicentre in the nation's largely undeveloped highlands may have helped prevent a bigger disaster, given the earthquake was so strong.
One resident from the town closest to the epicentre described his ordeal to the AP.
Renagi Ravu was meeting with colleagues at his home in the Papua New Guinea highlands on Sunday morning when a huge magnitude 7.6 earthquake struck.
Ravu tried to stand up from his chair but couldn't maintain his balance and so ended up in a kind of group hug with his colleagues, while plates and cups crashed from his shelves to the ground. His children, ages 9 and 2, had their drinks and breakfast spill over.
Ravu, a geologist, said he tried to calm everybody as the shaking continued for more than a minute.
"It's a common thing that earthquakes are felt here, but it usually doesn't last as long and is not as violent as this one," Ravu said. "It was quite intense."
The extent of the damage and whether there have been serious injuries or deaths from the quake was not clear in the immediate aftermath in the remote and underdeveloped region.
BREAKING: University of Goroka damaged as massive 7.7 magnitude earthquake hits Papua New Guinea pic.twitter.com/rF6h8ML4Xq
Ravu said that about 10,000 people live in and around his town of Kainantu, which is located 67km from the quake's epicentre and was the nearest big town to the quake. He said there are many scattered settlements in the highlands, and tens of thousands of people might have been affected.
Debris lies strewn across a highway following a landslide near the town of Kainantu, following a 7.6-magnitude earthquake in northeastern Papua New Guinea. Photo / AP
On Sunday morning, Ravu was still sorting through the damage to his home, which he said likely included a broken sewer pipe, judging from the smell. He said friends elsewhere in Kainantu had messaged him with descriptions of broken pipes and fallen debris, but hadn't described major building collapses or injuries.
At around 9: 46 am (PNG Time) an earthquake of 7.6 Magnitude hits Eastern part of PNG🇵🇬 ) Images of soil and ground liquefaction forming in Papua New Guinea. 2) Visible damages on roads and soil of cracks and lifting formed. Source: PNG News and Current Affairs pic.twitter.com/aI9cb6fJ6o
#Update: Just in - Other pictures of Papua New Guinea after the strong 7.7 magnitude of an #earthquake shook the region, pictures showing you store items on shelves have fallen to the ground. @sotiridipic.twitter.com/f5BZYS2b1P
A magnitude 7.5 earthquake in 2018 in the nation's central region killed at least 125 people. That quake hit areas that are remote and undeveloped, and assessments about the scale of the damage and injuries were slow to filter out.
Felix Taranu, a seismologist at the Geophysical Observatory in the capital Port Moresby, said it was too early to know the full impacts of Sunday's earthquake, although its strength meant it "most likely caused considerable damage".
According to the US Geological Survey, the quake hit at 9.46am local time. Initial readings put the quake at a depth of some 50 to 60km.
NOAA has since advised there is no tsunami threat for the area.
The extent of damage is not yet clear, but the USGS estimates "some casualties and damage are possible and the impact should be relatively localised."
Papua New Guinea sits on the Pacific's "Ring of Fire," the arc of seismic faults around the Pacific Ocean where much of the world's earthquakes and volcanic activity occurs.
