Volunteers lead desperate bid to reach PNG quake victims

At least three people died after a powerful earthquake hit a remote part of Papua New Guinea on Sunday morning, authorities said. Others were injured and infrastructure damaged in the magnitude 7.6 jolt that was felt across the Pacific country.

Airlifts to remote areas of Papua New Guinea have been operated non-stop as volunteer rescuers attempt to reach victims who remain stranded two days after a powerful 7.6-magnitude earthquake.The quake, which hit on Sunday at about 9:45am local time (23:45 GMT Saturday), has killed at least seven people and damaged infrastructure and private property, though the exact scale of the disaster is only slowly beginning to emerge, relief workers said.

At least 389 houses collapsed in the town of Madang alone, according to United Nations assessors now on the ground. The UN said it expected reports of earthquake damage to rise as staff reached other communities.

The earthquake on Sunday was the strongest to hit the Pacific nation since 2002 but has so far claimed far fewer lives than the 145 people killed by a quake in 2018.