Pacific / Papua New Guinea

Four confirmed dead after weekend quake in PNG

14:34 pm on 9 April 2018

Four deaths have been confirmed in Papua New Guinea's Hela Province after the weekend's 6.3-magnitude earthquake.

Photo: Facebook/ FRIEND

It struck on Saturday afternoon near Tari, the capital of Hela province, at a depth of only 10 kilometres.

The latest tremor has set back relief efforts in the region which is still struggling to recover from a massive 7.5-magnitude quake in February which killed at least 125 people.

The military officer in charge of co-ordinating the relief effort in Tari, Francis Vitata said his team was trying to reach those in need.

"The primary concern is food water and shelter. Now I have gone a little bit further than that. Those ones initially the delivery of those things have subsided and then I am looking at the second phase which is the rebuilding phase. Unfortunately the 6.3-magnitude on Saturday means revisiting those areas again."

Francis Vitata said the weekend quake caused widespread damage to buildings already weakened by February's tremor completely destroying many and leaving people without shelter.