Tsunami, PNG 1998 : extracts from Earth talk.

"Extracts from Earth Talk, a weekly column in the National newspaper, Port Moresby"

Cover title

First ed. published as: The Sissano tsunami 1998. [Port Moresby] : University of Papua New Guinea, 1999

Some text in Pidgin

On the evening of Friday 17 July 1998 a powerful tsunami struck the north coast of the island of New Guinea just west of Aitape. The wave completely destroyed three densely populated villages that were located on the sandbar that fringes Sissano Lagoon, destroyed most of a fourth village further west, and swept away the grand church at Sissano mission that had stood for more than 70 years. The wave also damaged villages along the coast east of the lagoon as far as Aitape and the mouth of the Raihu River. Rescue efforts commenced on Saturday morning and accelerated through the following days. Hospitals at Wewak, Aitape and Vanimo and an Australian Defence Force temporary field hospital at Vanimo overflowed with the injured. The disaster attracted worldwide media attention and drew a generous response from donors within the country and overseas. In all, 2,202 poeple lost their lives and 1,000 were treated for injuries; many of those who died were the aged and the very young. A total of 10,000 survivors lost their homes and personal possessions and required immediate relief food supplies and temporary accommodation in care centres. By April 1999 all those displaced by the wave were in the process of making a fresh start in the new re-settlement villages at some distance from the coast. Schools, churches and aid posts that were destroyed by the wave were being re-built in the new locations, and distribution of relief food had ceased