Papua New Guinea is hit by a disaster, China sends aid

Port Moresby – Aid supplies from China for Papua New Guinea arrived at Port Moresby International Airport, also known as Jacksons International Airport, Thursday (25/4). This is a step to help the people of Papua New Guinea who were affected by natural disasters some time ago.

As is known, at least five people died and around 1,000 houses were destroyed when an earthquake with a magnitude (M) of 6.9 rocked Papua New Guinea. Dozens of villages located on the banks of the country’s famous Sepik River were already battling flooding when the earthquake struck on Sunday (24/3) morning local time.

“So far, around 1,000 houses have been destroyed,” said East Sepik Governor Allan Bird, as quoted by the AFP news agency. He added that emergency teams were “still assessing the impact” of the quake which “damaged large parts of the province”.

Provincial police commander Christopher Tamari told AFP that authorities had so far recorded five deaths following the disaster.

Previously, heavy rains that triggered floods and landslides hit the Papua New Guinea Highlands region, claiming more than 20 lives. Residents’ houses were damaged as a result of this natural disaster and roads were swept away by flood currents.

As reported by AFP, Tuesday (19/3/2024), Acting Director of the National Disaster Center, Lusete Man, said that a mother and her child were among the victims who died when bad weather hit many areas in the highlands. At least 23 people died as a result of the floods and landslides.

“The 23 people were buried under tons of mud in three separate landslide incidents in different areas of Simbu Province,” Man said in a statement on Monday (18/3) local time. [p-t]