Landslides, quake kill five

By REBECCA KUKU
A 7.6 magnitude earthquake struck Morobe yesterday at about 9.45am, causing landslides and damaging properties with unconfirmed reports of at least five deaths and several people injured.
The earthquake’s epicenter was northwest of Lae, in the Markham Valley area near Mutzing.
Prime Minister James Marape, in a joint press conference yesterday with the chief secretary, Papua New Guinea Defence Force, the Royal Papua New Guinea Constabulary, and the Department of Works and the Port Moresby Geo Geophysical Observatory, issued the National Disaster Response Hotline number 1800 200 and urged those affected to call for help.
Marape said that the Government stood ready to assist, but needed a full report of the damages.
He also said that the provincial governments and district development authorities of the affected areas needed to start assessing the situation on the ground and report back to the Government today.
“I know, telecommunication and electricity in some parts of the country have also been affected, and I assure citizens in affected areas that we stand and are ready to address all this but in the meantime, if you need help, call the National Disaster call centre,” he said.
Marape also warned social media users across the country to stop misinforming the public.
“There is no tsunami alert, no volcanic activities as the earthquake’s epicenter was offshore and struck 81km below the surface, unlike the 7.6 magnitude earthquake that struck Southern Highlands in 2018, that earthquake was 23.4km below the surface,” he said.
“So the impact of this 7.6 magnitude earthquake, I’m told by the Geophysical Observatory will not be as big as the one in 2018.”
Rai Coast MP Kessy Sawang said that shortly after the 7.6 magnitude earthquake struck, there were several landslides in the district.
“The damage is extensive, houses have been destroyed and some are still buried under the soil,” she said.
A lot of people are injured, with two confirmed dead.
“Right now, we can’t really provide figures, but there has been two confirmed deaths, one woman was covered by the landslide in Babangu and died. And an eight-year-old girl was hit by a big rock that rolled down during the landslide, killing her instantly.”
Sawang said Mission Aviation Fellowship and the New Tribes Mission had helped the district authorities medevac the critically injured to hospitals.