Updated March 02, 2018 10:09:24

The Papua New Government has declared a state of emergency for parts of its Highlands Region devastated by a magnitude-7.5 earthquake, as Australia prepares to fly aid to affected areas.

PNG has allocated $180 million for relief and restoration efforts, but — importantly for the cash-strapped nation — the declaration allows for millions of dollars in international assistance to come in.

"This is an unprecedented disaster in the Highlands Region and the appropriate response is underway by the National Government," Prime Minister Peter O'Neill said.

The Australian Government has already promised $200,000 for aid and its first shipment of supplies — tarpaulins, water containers and purification tablets — will be flown to the highlands today.

Photo: Oil and gas explorer Oil Search has suspended its operations near the quake zone. (Supplied: Oil Search)

The PNG Government said its agencies were already providing relief, but residents in the quake area said they had not received any help.

Euralia Tagobe, who lives in the town nearest the epicentre, Tari, said many people were becoming frustrated.

"People are very, very upset because we didn't have our members [MPs] on the ground as soon as possible," she said.

Health workers said 10 people died in Tari, the capital of Hela Province, but provincial administrator William Bando said there were many more deaths in outlying areas.

"You know, we have people stuck in the mountains and buried in mudslides," he said.

"This earthquake has cost almost 50 lives, from my reports I'm getting, and has devastated a lot of homes."

'Urgent need' in the Southern Highlands

Photo: Local people dig at the site where a house was buried by mud and dirt. (ABC News: Bethanie Harriman)

Authorities in the Southern Highlands capital of Mendi said at least 11 people died there.

PNG's biggest resources development, the PNG LNG project, is in the quake zone.

Its operator, Exxon-Mobil, suspended operations and evacuated non-essential staff, and flew a disaster-assessment team into the region to see the impact on local communities.

Australian-listed company Oil Search has also had to shut down its operations and pull staff out.

The seeds of an earthquake lie in the tectonic plates that make up the Earth's surface and on which the continents sit.

"We have had to evacuate more than 20 field locations, with more than 600 people demobilised in the last 48 hours," managing director Peter Botten said.

"We are now addressing the urgent needs of our communities by providing food, water, basic accommodation needs and where necessary medical support in conjunction with the National Disaster and Emergency Management Centre, provincial governments and our partners, including the Oil Search Foundation."

The resources sector could face a backlash, as many locals blame the quake on oil and gas extraction, with some threatening to stage protests.

The director of PNG's Geohazards Management Division, Chris McKee, has been trying to publicly explain the quake was unrelated to extractive activity.

"The earthquakes are occurring well below where the oil and gas industry is operating," he said.

"They're occurring at depths of as much as 60 kilometres, so these are faults which are deep-seated and they're totally unrelated to the oil and gas industry."

Photo: Landslides happened around the epicentre of the quake in the highlands. (Supplied: Oil Search)

Topics: earthquake, oil-and-gas, foreign-aid, papua-new-guinea

First posted March 02, 2018 06:35:07