Much of Papua New Guinea's Hela province remains cut off due to disrupted telecommunications and transport links after Monday's 7.5 earthquake.
Portion of the new Mendi - Kandep road has been destroyed following the 7.5 earthquake. Photo: Andrew Solomon
A Hela NGO worker, Moses Komengi of Youth Ambassadors for Peace, says he understands there have been around sixteen deaths in the provincial capital Tari.
Disaster response teams have so far been unable to access Tari, which is around 30 kilometres from the quake's epicentre.
ExxonMobil's major LNG gas project is also close to the epicentre.
Video supplied by Bernard McQueen
The company has evacuated hundreds of non-essential staff because of damage to its project infrastructure.
Mr Komengi said it has added to the confusion of local people who fear a bigger quake is coming.
"We can see the police and the company moving out in choppers. And ExxonMobil is evacuating all its personnel and employees out of the gas sites. So this is giving question to the people, why is this happening?" said Moses Komengi.
The 7.5 earthquake of 26 February 2018 struck in Hela province, around 33 kilometres southwest of the provincial capital Tari. Photo: PNG National Disaster Centre