Christian Organizations Team Up to Help Earthquake-Weary New Guinea

A catastrophic and deadly earthquake rocked the small country of Papua New Guinea two weeks ago, but Christian organizations are banding together to bring relief to the island.

While the 7.5 magnitude earthquake hit on February 26th, more than 120 aftershocks, many of them in the 5-6.0 magnitude range, continue to shake the area. The death toll has risen to 145 and continues to rise. Meanwhile, some 270,000 people are in need of urgent humanitarian aid.

World Hope International (WHI) is teaming up with local Wesleyan Church partners to help meet the needs.

"There's been a lot of infrastructure damage up there," Sally Lloyd, disaster relief coordinator for WHI Australia, told CBN News. "In some places there is only access with small aircraft. There are no roads."

Lloyd also said the highlands are some of the worst hit areas and thousands of people "will have to move permanently."

She also said people along the border "are not managing okay" and are in need of food and shelter.

World Hope International and local partners are working around the clock to provide medical care to those in need. Even though many local churches would like to help, they do not have the resources to do so.

"They are not financially well-established. They would like to partner with other organizations," Lloyd said.

She believes it will take many months before towns and cities will recover.

In the meantime, she is focused on providing solutions to each new challenge.

"The biggest problem is fear. They don't understand what is happening and haven't had any education about what is happening," Lloyd said.