3 dead after 7.6 quake hits remote part of Papua New Guinea, tsunami alert withdrawn

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

The three people died in a landslide in the gold-mining town of Wau, said Morobe Provincial Disaster Director Charley Masange. Others sustained injuries from falling structures or debris, and there was damage to some health centers, homes, rural roads and highways, Masange told The Associated Press.

Cracks also emerged in the ground after the quake hit at 9:46 a.m. local time, with the epicentre 67 kilometers (42 miles) east of Kainantu, a sparsely populated area.

Renagi Ravu was meeting with two colleagues at his home in the Papua New Guinea highlands when it struck.

It could take some time to assess the full extent of the injuries and damage in the region.

The NOAA has since advised there is no tsunami threat for the area.

Ravu tried to stand up from his chair but couldn't maintain his balance and ended up in a kind of group hug with his colleagues, while plates and cups crashed from his shelves to the ground.

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His children, aged two and nine, had their drinks and breakfast spill over.

Ravu, who is a geologist, said he tried to calm everybody as the shaking continued for more than a minute.

He said that about 10,000 people live in and around his town of Kainantu, which is located 66 kilometers (41 miles) from the quake's epicenter and was the nearest big town to the quake.

Ravu said there are many scattered settlements in the highlands, and tens of thousands of people might have been affected.

He said people were feeling rattled.

Later on Sunday, Ravu was still sorting through the damage to his home, which he said likely included a broken sewer pipe judging from the smell.

Papua New Guinea is located on the eastern half of the island of New Guinea, to the east of Indonesia and north of eastern Australia.

It sits on the Pacific's "Ring of Fire," the arc of seismic faults around the Pacific Ocean where much of the world's earthquakes and volcanic activity occurs.