Wellington (New Zealand)(AP): At least three people are dead after a powerful earthquake hit a remote part of Papua New Guinea 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. Other people had been injured from falling structures or debris, and there was damage to some health centers, homes, rural roads and highways, Masange told The Associated Press.

Masange said it could take some time to assess the full extent of the injuries and damage in the region. But he said the sparse and scattered population and lack of large buildings near the epicenter in the nation's largely undeveloped highlands may have helped prevent a bigger disaster, given the earthquake was so strong.

One resident from the town closest to the epicenter described his ordeal to the AP.

Renagi Ravu was meeting with two colleagues at his home in Kainantu when the quake struck.

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, he said. His children, ages 9 and 2, 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.  Ravu said that about 10,000 people live in and around his town, which is located 66 kilometers (41 miles) from the quake's epicenter.

He said people were feeling rattled.

It's a common thing that earthquakes are felt here, but it usually doesn't last as long and is not as violent as this one, Ravu said. It was quite intense.

Ravu was sorting through the damage to his home, which he said likely included a broken sewer pipe judging from the smell. He said friends elsewhere in Kainantu had messaged him with descriptions of cracked roads, broken pipes and fallen debris, but hadn't described major building collapses or injuries.

They are starting to clean up their houses and the streets, he said. Communication seems to have been affected, he added, with some cell towers likely to have fallen.

A magnitude 7.5 earthquake in 2018 in the nation's central region killed at least 125 people. That quake hit areas that are remote and undeveloped, and assessments about the scale of the damage and injuries were slow to filter out.

Felix Taranu, a seismologist at the Geophysical Observatory in the capital Port Moresby, said it was too early to know the full impacts of Sunday's earthquake, although its strength meant it most likely caused considerable damage.

According to the U.S. Geological Survey, the quake hit at 9:46 a.m. local time at a depth of 90 kilometers (56 miles). NOAA advised there was no tsunami threat for the region.

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. (AP)

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New Delhi, Sep 11: The Congress on Sunday demanded immediate relief for middle and lower-income group families by reducing petrol and diesel by at least Rs 15 per litre and cooking gas prices by at least Rs 150 per cylinder.

Addressing a press conference here, Congress spokesperson Gourav Vallabh asked why the consumers had to bear the brunt of high fuel prices when crude oil prices were at a seven-month low and inflation was above RBI's upper band of six percent for the last seven months. "Why is the relief not being passed on to the consumers when the burden of high crude prices is always passed on," he asked. "Petrol and diesel prices are regulated by election dates and not global rates," he said, alleging that when elections near, the government reduces the prices or puts them on freeze, and when they are over, they raise the prices. "What are the excuses by the Modi government for not passing on the relief on decreasing LPG prices to the consumers? Does the Modi government only believe in passing on the burden to the consumers," the Congress leader asked. He said retail inflation, GDP growth, and a depreciating rupee are some of the examples that paint a worrying picture of how the economy is being managed. "The current BJP government is creating new lows with more data points released by its own government. The middle and lower-income groups suffer the most due to the callousness and incompetence of the government. "The consistently high retail inflation is one of the most concerning areas that need immediate government intervention," Vallabh said. He alleged that the government has been primarily the most inconsiderate towards the fuel prices. "Since they have a cascading effect across all economic activities, the government's inactions speak of its cluelessness and misguided focus. "The prices of crude oil have been consistently on a downward spiral for the last few months and are at a seven-month low. But the prices of Petrol and Diesel in our country don't seem to reflect this trend, even after deregulation, which means that the prices of petrol and diesel should change as per global prices," he said. Citing data from the Petroleum Planning & Analysis Cell (PPAC, Government of India), he said crude oil Indian basket as on September 8, 2022 was USD 88 per barrel, which was USD 116 in June this year. He said after elections in Uttar Pradesh, Punjab, Uttarakhand, Goa and Manipur, the petrol and diesel prices were increased nine times in 10 days between March 22 and March 31, 2022.

Sri Lanka clinches Asia Cup title after beating Pakistan by 23 runs.

Ayodhya (UP): An estimated cost of Rs 1,800 crore will be incurred to build the Ram temple in Ayodhya, officials of the trust responsible for the construction of the structure said here on Sunday.

Hyderabad: Ending speculations, Telangana Rashtra Samithi President and Chief Minister K Chandrashekar Rao on Sunday said he would launch a national party following more discussions with a cross-section of society.

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