Quake hits at heart of river people

**One of the quake-stricken areas in Angoram’s Timboli village.**

By MAJELEEN YANEI
LAST Sunday’s magnitude-6.9 earthquake hit hard at the heart of the Sepik River in East Sepik.
People were reportedly killed, injured and houses collapsed.
Although just less than last year’s magnitude-7.6, the suffering and pain it left behind last Sunday morning are enormous.
Kevin Muruket, from Angoram’s Timboli village, said many houses collapsed in a matter of seconds when the first quake struck.
He said many would have been killed had they not left their homes to safer ground.

**A victim receiving medical treatment at the East Sepik Provincial Hospital in Wewak.**

A mother and her daughter, Augusta Siken and four-year-old Sanara, were trapped inside the house and were killed instantly by a falling piece of wood.
Siken’s two other children, Zecharian and Saboni, sustained injuries.
“Augusta was preparing breakfast at around 6am when the house started shaking,” Muruket said.
“Her seven children were still sleeping. She rushed in and woke everyone and they all ran out.
“No one realised that her three younger children were still inside.
“Augusta ran back inside for the children and, on their way out, was killed along with her youngest child when the house collapsed.”
Muruket said at that time, people were already out in the river checking on their fishing nets. When they noticed the river waves building up, they left.
“They paddled back home to their collapsed and submerged houses.

**Angoram’s Timboli villagers trying to salvage their belonging during the recent floods.**

“We are now sleeping on canoes as the high tide covered the area, there is no food and clean drinking water. We have lost everything.”
There were also reports of another death – five-year-old Sherolyne Rex, from Sotmeri village.
She was trapped inside the family home when it collapsed, and was found dead inside the submerged building.
East Sepik protocol officer Patrick Nek said in Angoram’s Kamanambit village, 39 houses collapsed and 50 knocked sideways. Thirty houses collapsed in Mamari, including the Timbunke Health
Centre’s pediatric ward and three water tanks destroyed.
“Wosera-Gawi’s Korogu village had 50 houses destroyed, eight houses in Yenjumangua and 45 in Sotmeri villages.
The Drekikier Technical Secondary School Grade 10 classroom also collapsed.
Meanwhile, the hospital in Maprik had issued a statement confirming eight casualties from Sunday’s earthquake – six from Maprik and two from Yangoru.