Earthquake of magnitude 6.6 strikes off Papua New Guinea; no reports of casualties

SYDNEY (REUTERS) - A shallow 6.6 magnitude earthquake struck off Papua New Guinea on Monday (March 26), the US Geological Survey said, the latest in a series to hit the region in recent days, but there were no immediate reports of casualties or damage.

The earthquake struck 180km west of the town of Rabaul, on New Britain island, at a shallow depth of 10km, the USGS said.PHOTO: USGS

The quake struck 180km west of the town of Rabaul, on New Britain island, at a depth of 10 km, the USGS said.
The quake was initially recorded with a magnitude of 7.0 but was later downgraded. There was no immediate tsunami warning.
“We are okay. No one is injured,” said Sylvia Ombul, night desk supervisor at the Kimbe Bay Hotel in the port town of Kimbe, about 140 km to the west of the quake.
“Right now at the hotel all my guests are okay,” Ombul added.
She described the quake as “not really big”.
Papua New Guinea, one of the world’s poorest countries, is still reeling a month after a magnitude 7.5 quake hit some 900 km to the west in its rugged and remote highlands, killing at least 100 people as landslides buried villages.

Papua New Guinea: A month after killer quake, UN on the ground to save lives

news.un.org | March 26, 2018

According to the Government, an estimated 270,000 people are still in need of urgent assistance, including 125,000 children, in the wake of a 7.5 magnitude earthquake on 26 February that killed at least 100 people and injured many more in landslides and collapsing houses across four remote provinces of the Pacific island nation.

UNICEF/Nybo: Relief workers unload food aid flown in by helicopter for people affected by the 7.5 magnitude earthquake which struck Papua New Guinea in February 2018.

Children’s lives are in danger.
With limited access to basic necessities, families are struggling to survive in crowded shelters, or to rebuild homes and food gardens.
“Children’s lives are in danger,” said Karen Allen, UN Children’s Fund (UNICEF) Representative for the country.
“With limited access to basic necessities, families are struggling to survive in crowded shelters, or to rebuild homes and food gardens.”
Last week alone, UNICEF delivered 23 metric tonness of relief supplies to the nation, including tents and tarpaulins, water purification tablets, hygiene kits, blankets and learning kits.

UNICEF/Bell: UNICEF staff unload emergency supplies in Port Moresby, Papua New Guinea for earthquake response efforts.

To date, UNICEF has already delivered 12,000 packets of therapeutic food and enough vaccines to protect 31,700 children against the increasing risk of disease outbreak and malnutrition.
Papua New Guinea already had low vaccination coverage and the world’s fourth highest rate of chronically malnourished children.
UNICEF is working with the Government and partners to ensure humanitarian supplies are distributed to affected communities as quickly as possible.
UN Population Fund (UNFPA), World Health Organization (WHO) and UN Women are also on the ground.
UNICEF needs $14.6 million to provide humanitarian assistance to children and families affected by the earthquake over the next nine months.
The island, on a volatile seismic fault system, has been experiencing a spark of activity, with the latest strike by a 6.6 magnitude quake several hours ago, according to media reports. 
The Sendai Framework for Disaster Risk Reduction 2015-2030, adopted at the UN World Conference in Sendai, Japan, in March 2015, aims to substantially reduce global disaster mortality and the number of affected people by 2030.

Papua New Guinea sea-sponge derivatives able to inhibit, attack growth of HIV in infected cells: SFU study

by Randy Shore, vancouversun.com
March 23, 2018

Half a dozen novel compounds derived from sea sponges are able to inhibit human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) in infected cells, according to a newly published study from Simon Fraser University.

Jaspis coriacea sponge is the source of bengamide A, a compound with potential in the fight against HIV. 

Simon Fraser University researchers

These compounds attack HIV’s ability to grow in a way that is different from available drugs, which helps identify weaknesses of the virus that could be exploited by some future therapy, said lead author Ian Tietjen.
“The more we know about retroviruses, the better we can find ways to kill them,” he said.
HIV infection attacks the immune system and, over time, leads to acquired immunodeficiency syndrome, or AIDS.
In particular, bengamide A — derived from a sea sponge native to the waters of Papua New Guinea — was quite potent at concentrations similar to those of many licensed antiretroviral drugs used to treat HIV.
But it inhibits HIV in a way that no licensed drug does, which may also make it useful for treating drug-resistant HIV or as a road map to a therapy that targets replication.
“One of the challenges of HIV is that when it infects a cell, it integrates itself into the host’s DNA, where it stays for the rest of people’s lives, making new virus,” said Tietjen.
The new compound blocks the ability of HIV to create copies of itself from its hiding place.
While this obscure compound may never become a drug, what is potentially more important is the knowledge that HIV can be stopped by attacking the replication process in a particular way, he said.
Natural and synthesized bengamide compounds have shown some promise as cancer drugs and antibiotics.
One version was tested as an anticancer agent in a phase one clinical trial, but it was abandoned due to adverse reactions.
“Bengamide A was not toxic to host cells, which is a good sign for being a drug candidate,” said Tietjen.
“Of course, that’s completely different from testing bengamide A in an animal or a human, so there’s a long way to go before it becomes a drug.”
The six compounds identified as HIV inhibitors were selected from a field of 252 compounds supplied by chemist Raymond Andersen at the University of British Columbia.
“This was the result of good collaboration with our partners at UBC, who collected sea sponges and other microorganisms from around the world and pulled novel compounds,” said Tietjen.
“They didn’t know what (the compounds) could do and that’s where we came in.”
That the researchers were able to identify so many potentially useful compounds from such a small number of candidates underscores the value of preserving the world’s ecosystems, he said.
“Sometimes we have to test hundreds of thousands of synthetic compounds to get that many hits,” he said.
“The oceans are reservoirs of organisms with all kinds of therapeutic potential.”

rshore@postmedia.com

Beautiful Bahá’í House of Worship unveiled for Papua New Guinea capital

by Lucy Wang, inhabitat.com

The temples of the Bahá’í Faith are renowned for their beauty—and the new national Bahá’í House of Worship in Papua New Guinea will be no exception.

The Bahá’í International Community unveiled last Wednesday the design for the national Baha’i House of Worship of Papua New Guinea, a latticed domed temple open to all regardless of religion.
Locally-based architects Henry Lape and Saeed Granfar created the design with the country’s over 700 distinct cultural groups in mind in hopes of creating “a universal theme.”

Last Wednesday's Bahá’í House of Worship design unveiling was celebrated during Naw-Ruz, the Bahá’í New Year, at the temple’s proposed site in Papua New Guinea’s capital of Port Moresby.
Set overlooking the Waigani valley, the proposed temple is located on an elevated plot with the advantage of views and cool breezes even in the heat of the day.
The latticed dome temple is open for cross ventilation and alludes to the country’s traditional craft of weaving.

“One subtle image which time and again stood out to us was that of the art of weaving,” continued Mr. Lape and Mr. Granfar in their talk.
“In traditional village life, which remains alive and vibrant in Papua New Guinea today, and in urban households alike, woven surfaces and objects are found in abundance.
"It is an image which resonates closely with ‘home’ for many of us, a functional and inherently beautiful art form which we interact with daily.”
 Weaving imagery also ties into Baha’i’s embrace of peoples from all backgrounds. “The craft of weaving is analogous to the process of building unity in diversity. "Individual strands come together to form something infinitely stronger than the object constituent parts, and the whole draws on the contributions of each individual strand.”
As specified by Bahá’í scripture, the national Bahá’í House of Worship in Papua New Guinea features nine sides, each with a gable-roofed entrance.
 The temple will be able to seat 350 people.

+ Bahá’í International Community

Via ArchDaily

Images via Bahá’í International Community

A month after PNG quake, cash-strapped government struggles to help the hardest-hit

by Tom Westbrook, reuters.com
March 25, 2018

SYDNEY (Reuters) - Almost a month after a deadly earthquake, Papua New Guinea is struggling to get aid to desperate survivors, having allocated just a fraction of its relief funds, while a rent dispute left disaster officials briefly locked out of their offices.
The scale of the emergency is testing the finances and capacity of one of the world’s poorest countries, disaster and relief officials say, after the magnitude 7.5 quake rocked its remote mountainous highlands on Feb. 26, killing 100 people.

(For a graphic on 'Papua New Guinea quake' click tmsnrt.rs/2ow1YLR)

Thousands of survivors have walked to remote airstrips and jungle clearings, awaiting helicopters bringing supplies of food, water and medicines, aid agencies and authorities say.
“To date, we do not have any money to do all the necessary things,” Tom Edabe, the disaster coordinator for the hardest-hit province of Hela, said by telephone from Tari, its capital.
“(The) government is trying to assist and have budgeted some money, but to date we have not received anything...we have only been given food, and non-food items supplied by other NGOs.”
Continuing aftershocks rattle residents, who have to collect water brought by daily rainstorms to ensure adequate supplies, Edabe, the disaster coordinator, said.
“The biggest thing that people need, apart from food, is water,” said James Pima, a helicopter pilot and flight manager at aviation firm HeliSolutions in the Western Highlands capital of Mt. Hagen, about 170 km (100 miles) from the disaster zone.
“They don’t have clean water to cook or drink ... they are standing there staring. The expression on their faces is blank.”
His firm’s three helicopters fly relief missions “fully flat-out every day,” Pima added.
Destruction to roads and runways means authorities must rely on helicopters to fly in relief.
But while nimble, the craft can only carry smaller loads than fixed-wing aircraft and cannot fly during the afternoon thunderstorms.
The logistics problems wind all the way to PNG’s disaster center, where officials told Reuters they had been locked out of their office in Port Moresby, the capital, for two days last week after the government missed a rental payment.
“That was correct, Monday and Tuesday,” a spokeswoman said.
In a joint report with the United Nations published on Friday, the agency cited “lack of quality data” about food shortages, limited aircraft assets and “significant gaps” in sanitation support as being the biggest problems it faced.
The office of Prime Minister Peter O’Neill did not respond to emailed questions from Reuters.
On his website, O’Neill has previously said, “There will be no quick fix, the damage from this disaster will take months and years to be repaired.”

‘POLITICAL GAMES’

The government had approved relief funds amounting to 450 million kina ($130 million), O’Neill said initially, but a later statement mentioned only 3 million kina in initial relief - or less than 1 percent - had been allocated to the worst-hit areas.
In its November budget, the government made plans to rein in spending and trim debt projected to stand at 25.8 billion kina in 2018.
The impoverished country is also missing its largest revenue earner, after the quake forced a shutdown of Exxon Mobil Corp’s liquefied natural gas project, which has annual sales of $3 billion at current LNG prices.
The firm is still assessing quake damage at its facilities.
O’Neill last week hit out at critics of the aid effort for playing “political games,” while thanking Australia and New Zealand for military aircraft that provided assistance beyond the capacity of PNG’s own defense forces.
His political opponent, former Prime Minister Mekere Morauta, had called the government’s response “tardy” and inadequate.
“Relief sources say mobile medical centers and operating theaters are needed urgently, and that only international partners can supply them,” Morauta said last week.
Foreign aid pledges of about $49 million have come in from Australia, China, the European Union, Japan, New Zealand and the United States, says the United Nations, most of it provided by private companies.
Exxon and its partner, Oil Search Ltd, say they have provided $6 million in cash and kind for quake relief.
Local officials say the scale of destruction, with villages buried by landslides and provincial towns flattened, has overwhelmed authorities in Papua New Guinea, which straddles the geologically active Pacific Ring of Fire.
“Policemen are still struggling because there is no support flying in and out,” said Naring Bongi of the quake-damaged police station in the Southern Highlands capital of Mendi.
“There is not enough food to supply care centers, they need fresh water,” he added.

(For an interactive graphic on 'Aftermath of Papua New Guinea's earthquake' click tmsnrt.rs/2Fdu74B)

Papua New Guinean students learn about the benefits of commercial farming at University of New England

by Madeline Link, armidaleexpress.com.au
March 23, 2018

MORE THAN 2000 kilometres from home, a group of students from Papua New Guinea are learning how to pull farmers out of poverty.

FARM FUN: University of New England students Priscilla Pius and Dickson Kenas.

In Papua New Guinea, most farmers are small land owners and will share space with their neighbours.
Rarely do they use their land to farm products commercially.
Student Priscilla Pius said rural communities depend on what they grow in their gardens.

Priscilla Pius and Brian Yak working with nature pastured eggs in Guyra.

“Everyday you depend on what you grow, it’s a way to sustain their livelihood but not for selling in big quantities,” she said.
”The idea of diversifying, of trying to do different things and sell products for a living is something we can take back with us to start small.”
The students have covered a range of subjects, from people management, to financial record keeping, risk management and marketing and developing business proposals.
They’ve visited farms in Guyra to learn the ropes of commercial farming.
Course coordinator Peter Fitzgerald said there are commercial farms in Papua New Guinea but they are few and far between.

LOOKING FORWARD: University of New England course coordinator Peter Fitzgerald.

“It’s very diverse but at the end of the day we’re trying to help bring up the people farming for livelihoods to become a bit more commercial and sell their product,” he said.

Chris Owen - requiem for a filmmaker between worlds

by Les McLaren, screenhub.com.au
March 12, 2018

Chris Owen - veteran filmmaker and the guiding presence behind many prominent documentaries from Papua New Guinea -died this month.

Chris Owen with an Enga man during the filming of  Tighten The Drums in 1974.

His father was killed flying over France in WW2, while his mother was an executive assistant in Bomber Command.
Owen was born in the UK in 1944.
He came to Australia in 1961 and worked variously as a bank clerk, a station-hand, wheat farmer and as a psychiatric nurse.
 In 1968, he travelled overland back to the UK where he completed a Diploma in Visual Communication in Birmingham.
He arrived in Papua New Guinea in 1972 as a photographer with the Tourist Board when the country was still under Australian control, and remained there as a resident until 2010.
 In 1974 he joined the newly established Institute of PNG Studies, and made his first film Tighten the Drums, about ceremonial decoration in the Western Highlands.
In September 1975 he documented an elaborate fertility ritual in the remote border area of the West Sepik, and days later filmed the nearby Independence celebrations for Dennis O’Rourke’s documentary Yumi Yet.
This was Chris’ first contribution to a suite of landmark documentaries made by Australians in PNG over the next 25 years.
He would go on to collaborate as cinematographer, associate producer, advisor and friend with Dennis O’Rourke, Gary Kildea, Bob Connolly, Robin Anderson, Andrew Pike, Les McLaren, Annie Stiven, Alec Morgan, Noriko Sekiguchi and Oliver Howes, as well as with leading filmmakers and anthropologists from Australia, France, Japan, the UK, US and New Zealand.
The list of prize-winning/renowned films he collaborated on include Yumi Yet, Ileksen, Sharkcallers of Kontu, Angels of War, Cannibal Tours, First Contact, Joe Leahy’s Neighbours, Black Harvest, Cowboy and Maria in Town, Taking Pictures and the Japanese production, Senso Daughters.
And there was his own impressive and prizewinning body of documentaries including The Red Bowmen, Gogodala – A Cultural Revival?, Malangan Labadama, Man Without Pigs, Bridewealth for a Goddess and Betelnut Bisnis.
The last was commissioned by SBS.
These films stand out for their compelling images of culture and change in PNG, and an engagement with the issues and influences affecting ordinary people at the village level.
He also directed a feature film with Albert Toro, Tukana – Husat I Asua? (Who’s to Blame?) about the impact of the Bougainville mine which screened on SBS, and also made information outreach works such as Ramu Pawa (a 5-year cinematic diary of the giant Yonki Dam), Lukautim Bus (Look After Nature), and Re-Forestation Naturally.
Chris believed strongly in the power of film to inform people and shape outcomes for a better society, and it was the mentoring of PNG filmmakers and the promotion of community video production which pre-occupied his last decade in PNG.
 After training filmmakers at the Institute of PNG Studies, he moved to Goroka to become Director of the National Film Institute, where he guided many emerging PNG filmmakers including Martin Maden, Baike Johnston, Leoni Kanawi, Ruth Ketau and Ignatius Talania.
The current head of the National Film Institute is a female filmmaker and archivist, Chicco Baru, also mentored by Chris.
He was generous in many ways to many people, and despite his fulsome advocacy against the self interests of the powerful, he was a disarming and witty raconteur – drawing on a wealth of hair-raising and remarkable adventures in the Land of the Unexpected.
As well as numerous international awards for his films, Chris was also honoured with PNG’s distinguished Order of Logoho in 2010, a lifetime achievement award from the Society for Visual Anthropology (USA) in 2017, and Honorary Membership of the Australian Cinematographers’ Association in 2018.
But perhaps the most fitting testimony is from PNG filmmaker Martin Maden: "I do not know of one other culture whose children will inherit a film heritage such as the one Chris Owen has given to the people of Papua New Guinea."
Chris died on 9 March 2018 in the Fred Ward Gardens nursing home in Canberra, after a long battle with illness and blindness.
-----
His detailed credits can be found here.
A glimpse of the band of Australians who have worked in PNG is provided by the NFSA which quotes an interviewee in Kama Wosi, which Les McLaren made in 1979.

"What are you taking pictures for? Day and night, day and night taking pictures for nothing. You take these pictures and then take them away. What does it mean."

ABOUT THE AUTHOR

Les McLaren is a veteran documentary filmmaker who has made many films in PNG with Annie Stiven since the early 1970's.
Taking Pictures and Cowboy and Maria In Town are among five films which have been shown in festivals around the world.
In 2003 Les spent four months in Bougainville working with the UN-led peace monitoring group as a liaison officer with Bougainvillean, Australian, New Zealand, Fijian and ni-Vanuatu personnel.