Earthquakes are frequent in Papua New Guinea (Representational)

Port Moresby, Papua New Guinea:

At the very least 5 folks had been killed and an estimated 1,000 houses destroyed when a magnitude 6.9 earthquake rocked flood-stricken northern Papua New Guinea, officers stated Monday as catastrophe crews poured into the area. 

“Thus far, round 1,000 houses have been misplaced,” stated East Sepik Governor Allan Fowl, including that emergency crews had been “nonetheless assessing the affect” from a tremor that “broken most elements of the province”.

Dozens of villages nestled on the banks of the nation’s Sepik River had been already coping with main flooding when the quake struck early Sunday morning. 

Provincial police commander Christopher Tamari advised AFP that authorities had recorded 5 deaths however the variety of fatalities “may very well be extra”. 

Photographs taken within the aftermath of the quake confirmed broken picket homes collapsing into the encircling knee-high floodwaters. 

Earthquakes are frequent in Papua New Guinea, which sits on prime of the seismic “Ring of Hearth” — an arc of intense tectonic exercise that stretches by Southeast Asia and throughout the Pacific basin. 

Though they seldom trigger widespread harm within the sparsely populated jungle highlands, they’ll set off damaging landslides.

Lots of the island nation’s 9 million residents reside outdoors main cities and cities, the place the tough terrain and lack of sealed roads can critically hamstring search-and-rescue efforts.

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