More than 30 people have died in a magnitude 7,5 earthquake that hit Papua New Guinea.
Rescue teams are trying to reach mountainous areas where roads are blocked and telephone lines are down, local media reported this morning, a day after the earthquake whose epicenter was 90 kilometers southwest of the Porgera Valley, in an area with several villages and one gold mine.
The newspaper "Post Courier" states, referring to the local authorities, that 13 people died in the town of Medni, and 18 in its surroundings.
Another newspaper's website cites a priest's statement about at least 10 deaths, including four children, in landslides caused by the earthquake.
About 300 people were reportedly injured.
Officially, there are no confirmations about the balance of the victims yet.
The administrator of Hela province, William Bando, told AP that the phones are not working, there is no electricity, and landslides have torn up the roads. He said that he had never experienced so much damage.
The government's assessment team will go to the devastated area today with the help of soldiers to assess the extent of the damage.
The American Institute of Geophysics, USGS, stated that the epicenter of the earthquake was 90 kilometers south of Porgera, in the mountainous province of Enga, and the focal point was 35 kilometers deep in the Earth's crust. The earthquake occurred yesterday at 3.45:18.45 local time (XNUMX:XNUMX CET on Sunday).
There are also several oil and gas wells in the area of the epicenter. The company Exxon Mobil in Papua New Guinea announced that the installations of the gas plant in Hides were damaged, and that part of the staff was evacuated.
The Australian oil company "Oil Search" announced that it has stopped working until it assesses the damage.
Papua New Guinea has about seven million inhabitants.
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