Five killed as powerful earthquake strikes Papua New Guinea

Movies of the aftermath of a 7.6 magnitude earthquake present cracked roads and broken buildings.

A large crack is seen in a highway near the town of Kainantu, following a 7.6-magnitude earthquake in northeastern Papua New Guinea
A big crack is seen in a freeway close to the city of Kainantu, following a 7.6 magnitude earthquake in northeastern Papua New Guinea, Sunday, September 11, 2022 [Renagi Ravu via AP]

A 7.6 magnitude earthquake shook Papua New Guinea, damaging buildings, triggering landslides and killing not less than 5 individuals.

America Geological Survey mentioned the earthquake struck at a depth of 61km (38 miles), about 67km (41 miles) from the jap city of Kainantu, on Sunday morning.

Native member of parliament Kessy Sawang mentioned not less than two individuals have been killed in distant mountain villages, with 4 others airlifted to hospital in crucial situation. In close by Wau, Koranga Alluvial Mining mentioned three miners have been buried alive.

“There was widespread injury,” mentioned Sawang, including a landslide had buried houses and “cut up” one village the place individuals “misplaced their homes”.

The nation’s chief, James Marape, mentioned the earthquake was “huge” and informed individuals to be cautious, however mentioned he anticipated the injury to be lower than that from a 2018 earthquake and collection of aftershocks, which killed an estimated 150 individuals.

Nonetheless, the dimensions of the injury and variety of casualties from Sunday’s earthquake was nonetheless unclear.

“Nationwide and provincial catastrophe businesses, in addition to leaders, have been requested to evaluate the injury and accidents to individuals and attend to those as quickly as attainable,” Marape mentioned.

The United Nations Workplace for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA) in Asia and the Pacific mentioned in a report posted on Twitter that at that least 4 deaths and 4 accidents had been reported.

It mentioned individuals had been injured by falling buildings or particles, and there was injury to some well being centres, houses, rural roads and highways.

Energy infrastructure was broken in affected areas, inflicting an outage throughout the Jap Highlands.

‘Difficult’ entry

Papua New Guinea residents took to social media sharing pictures and movies of cracked roads, broken buildings and automobiles, and gadgets falling off grocery store cabinets.

Video of harm to a college within the jap highland city of Goroka confirmed giant cracks showing in partitions and window awnings falling through the earthquake.

Small aviation corporations and missionary teams have been concerned in airlifting among the injured throughout the rugged jungle panorama.

“It’s very tough, the terrain, the climate. It’s difficult,” mentioned Nellie Pumai of Manolos Aviation, which had transported one particular person out and was attempting to return.

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Locals in Lae and Madang, closest to the epicentre, mentioned the shaking was rather more vigorous than earlier quakes.

“Very sturdy, every part was like sitting on a sea – simply floating,” mentioned Hivi Apokore, a employee on the Jais Aben Resort close to Madang.

Earthquakes are frequent in Papua New Guinea, which sits on the Pacific Ocean’s “Ring of Hearth”, a hotspot for seismic exercise as a consequence of friction between tectonic plates.

A magnitude 7.5 earthquake rocked the nation’s distant mountainous highlands in 2018, killing greater than 100 individuals and damaging 1000's of houses.

In neighbouring Indonesia in 2004, a 9.1 magnitude earthquake triggered a tsunami that killed 220,000 all through the area.

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