More than 30 believed dead in PNG earthquake: report

MORE than 30 people are believed to have died after a powerful earthquake struck Papua New Guinea’s mountainous interior, a report said yesterday as details of“extensive” damage began to emerge.

The 7.5-magnitude tremor struck 90 kilometres south of Porgera in the Pacific nation’s Enga province early Monday, with two strong aftershocks rattling the rugged region.

Phone lines were largely cut, but the PNG Post Courier newspaper cited Hela provincial administrator William Bando as saying there were casualties.

It reported that at least 13 died in the Southern Highlands capital Mendi while 18 others were believed to have been killed in nearby Kutubu and Bosave.

Some 300 people were injured, it added, and properties damaged, with reports of landslides and sinkholes.

The Papua New Guinea Today website, quoting Catholic priest Pius Hal, said at least 10 died, including four children, in quake-triggered landslides.

AFP was unable to confirm the death toll.

A government assessment team was due to fly into the area yesterday to get a better idea of the impact, with the military mobilised to help restore services and infrastructure, the government’s Chief Secretary Isaac Lupari said in a statement.

“Information will be provided as this is made available from assessment teams in the area,” he added.

Hela Governor Philip Undialu, who was in the capital Port Moresby, told the National newspaper there was widespread damage.

“The scale of damage, from information we are getting from the ground, is quite extensive,” he said, adding that there were around 19 landslides between Mendi and the town of Mount Hagen. “Our police station, courthouse, hospital . . . even private houses have been ripped apart or sunk into the ground. It’s going to be a massive recovery exercise.”

The tremor hit at a depth of 35 kilometres around 3:45 am, US seismologists said, with aftershocks of 6.0 and 6.3 magnitude recorded.

Earthquakes are common in PNG, which sits on the so-called Pacific Ring of Fire, a hotspot for seismic activity.

FARIDULLAH AHMADZAI/AFP Fighters with Afghanistan’s Taliban militia stand with their weapons in Ahmad Aba district on the outskirts of Gardez, the capital of Paktia province, on July 18.