A devastating magnitude 6.9 earthquake struck flood-stricken northern Papua New Guinea, claiming at least five lives and destroying approximately 1,000 homes, officials reported on Monday. The disaster prompted a swift response from emergency crews, who rushed to assess the widespread damage caused by the tremor. East Sepik Governor Allan Bird stated, "So far, around 1,000 homes have been lost," emphasizing that the province had been heavily impacted by the quake.
The earthquake added to the woes of villages along the Sepik River, which were already grappling with severe flooding when the tremor hit early Sunday morning. Provincial police commander Christopher Tamari informed AFP that while five deaths had been confirmed, the actual number of fatalities could be higher. Images from the scene depicted wooden houses collapsing into floodwaters, highlighting the destruction wrought by the quake.
Papua New Guinea experiences frequent earthquakes due to its location atop the seismic "Ring of Fire," a zone of intense tectonic activity spanning Southeast Asia and the Pacific basin. While quakes rarely cause significant damage in the country's sparsely populated jungle highlands, they can trigger dangerous landslides. With much of the nation's nine million inhabitants residing in rural areas with limited access to major towns and cities, search-and-rescue operations are often hindered by challenging terrain and lack of infrastructure.
