PNG quake leaves 67 dead as aftershocks rock homes: Red Cross
Sydney, (MILLAT ONLINE):At least 67 people were killed by a major earthquake that devastated Papua New Guinea’s remote highlands last week, the Red Cross said Monday, with thousands homeless and without food and clean water.
The recovery effort has been slow as aid workers grapple with blocked roads and power outages to reach cut-off villages after the 7.5-magnitude quake struck on February 26 in the Pacific nation’s mountainous interior.
Terrified locals in the Southern Highlands, Western, Enga and Hela provinces have also had to deal with strong aftershocks, including two 6.0-magnitude tremors early Monday.
Compounding the fallout was an announcement Monday that the impoverished country’s biggest-ever development — the PNG LNG project operated by US energy giant ExxonMobil — will be offline for up to eight weeks as the quake-hit facilities undergo repairs.
“The death toll reported by the National Disaster Centre and disaster management teams on Friday is 67,” the PNG country head of the International Federation of Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies Udaya Regmi told AFP from the capital Port Moresby.
“Around 143,000 people are affected and 17,000 people have been generally displaced because their homes are either fully or partially damaged and not in a condition to live in.”
No official government death toll has been released.