At least five people have been killed and nearly 1,000 homes destroyed after an earthquake of 6.9 magnitude hit the northern Papua New Guinea on Sunday. The emergency disaster crew have rushed to the spot and are assessing the impact and damage caused by the tremor in parts of the province. The earthquake has struck at a time when already dozens of villages on the banks of the Sepik River were dealing with major flooding. Provincial police commander Christopher Tamari told AFP that authorities had recorded five deaths but the number of fatalities "could be more".