PNG quake sparks state of emergency
SYDNEY: Papua New Guinea has declared a state of emergency across its highlands, releasing government relief funds four days after a deadly quake flattened provincial towns and buried hamlets under landslides, killing at least 31 people.
Stymied by forbidding terrain and weather, as well as damaged roads and runways, officials said aid had yet to arrive in large towns where it was needed most.
“The only means of rescue is via helicopters, and they are hardly coming,” Hela province administrator William Bando said on the phone from his office in a shipping container at Tari, about 40km from the epicentre.
“Our people live in scattered hamlets and people are dying... People are asking for tents, water and medical supplies.”
The emergency declaration made on Thursday by PNG Prime Minister Peter O’Neill cleared the way for 450 million kina (RM543 million) in government aid to flow, as well as help from the military.
He announced that a restoration authority would direct recovery efforts for the next four years.
An official, who put the death toll at 31, said at least 13 people died when landslides covered remote hamlets close to where the quake struck, some 560km northwest of capital Port Moresby.
The Red Cross said while the region had no major urban centres, around 670,000 people live within 100km of the epicentre.
Most confirmed fatalities were in or around Tari and provincial capital of Mendi, where at least 14 people died and aftershocks continued to frighten residents.
“People have started to dig out and recover bodies in the ground. There is no help except for those who are here going around collecting information on casualties and such,” Mendi policeman Naring Bongi said.
The International Federation of Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies said it released US$221,000 (RM864,224) in funds to help relief efforts and would send first aid, water, mosquito nets and shelters, to the region.
Australia has promised A$200,000 (RM607,708) in aid, sent a C-130 military plane to help with aerial surveys, and a spokesperson at the Foreign Ministry said more help was on standby, should PNG request it.