1,000 homes were destroyed.

At the time, the German Geosciences Research Center (GFZ) said Sunday's earthquake occurred in the remote East Sepik province in northern Papua New Guinea at a depth of 65 km.

The earthquake in Papua New Guinea has left many homes submerged in floodwaters across East Sepik province. Photo: ABC

Governor Allan Bird of East Sepik said, “So far, around 1,000 homes have been lost,” adding that rescue teams “are still assessing the impact” from an earthquake that “damaged most areas of the province.”

Dozens of villages nestled along the Sepik River across the country faced severe flooding when the earthquake struck early Sunday morning.

Provincial police chief Christopher Tamari told AFP that authorities had recorded five deaths, but the death toll "could be higher." Photographs taken after the earthquake showed damaged wooden houses collapsing into knee-deep floodwaters.

Earthquakes are frequent in Papua New Guinea, which lies on the "Ring of Fire"—an arc of intense tectonic activity stretching across Southeast Asia and throughout the Pacific Basin.

Although they rarely cause widespread damage in sparsely populated, high-altitude forested areas, they can trigger devastating landslides.

Many of the island nation's 9 million citizens live outside major towns and cities, where difficult terrain and a lack of roads can hinder search and rescue efforts.

Huy Hoang (Ndtv, AFP, Reuters)

Source: https://www.congluan.vn/dong-dat-o-papua-new-guinea-1000-ngoi-nha-bi-pha-huy-it-nhat-5-nguoi-thiet-mang-post289148.html