Papua New Guinea Earthquake: Videos, Photos Show Devastating Destruction of 7.6 Quake

Papua New Guinea was rocked by a massive 7.6 earthquake on Sunday, with photos and videos showing the destruction left behind by landslides, including cracked roads and damaged buildings.

Currently, the extent of the damage of the tremor remains unclear but images showed debris strewn across highways and cracks in the middle of roads. The quake was found to have struck at a depth of 90 kilometers near Kainantu, a town with roughly 8,500 residents, said the United States Geological Survey.

Massive 7.6 Earthquake

While authorities did not initially report any deaths and there was no official confirmation of the damage caused, residents took to social media platforms to share photographs of the destruction the quake left behind. The images showed cracked roads, damaged cars, and felled items from supermarket shelves.

In a statement, the United States National Tsunami Warning Center reassured us that there was no threat of tsunami waves due to the quake. Earlier in the day, the agency said that hazardous tsunami waves were possible within 1,000 kilometers along the coasts of Papua New Guinea and Indonesia, as per CNN. There was an earthquake of a similar size that hit the country's remote highlands in 2018 that resulted in the death of more than 60 people and the injury of 500 others. That massive quake destroyed houses, caused landslides, and damaged a major gas plant.

Papua New Guinea is known to be vulnerable to earthquakes due to being along the "Ring of Fire" in the Pacific Ocean, where shifting tectonic plates push against each other, causing the quakes.

According to Channel News Asia, in an update on Sunday, the United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA) said that at least four people have died as a result of the quake.

Casualties and Destruction

One victim lost his life during a landslide in Rai Coast, Madang, with three others buried in Wau, Morobe, said OCHA's PNG disaster management team in a Twitter post. It added that the regional power grid, internet cables, and the regional highway were damaged, but noted that the airport was operational.

Kessy Sawang, a local member of parliament, said, "There has been widespread damage," adding that a landslide had buried homes and "split" one village where people had "lost their houses."

Due to limited communications in the area and few government resources as well as paved roads, assessment and rescue efforts were difficult to conduct. Small aviation companies and missionary groups became involved in airlifting some of the injured residents across the rugged jungle landscape.

The UN report noted that people had been injured by falling structures or debris and that there was damage to some health care centers, homes, rural roads, and highways. Nellie Pumai of Manolos Aviation, which had transported one person out and was trying to return, said that it was very difficult due to the terrain and the weather.

State-backed communications provider PNG DataCo reported an impact on its undersea cable network, resulting in widespread disruptions. Furthermore, power infrastructure was damaged in affected areas, causing an outage across the Eastern Highlands, Reuters reported.

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