Assessment teams deployed after massive Papua New Guinea quake

Papua New Guinea dispatched assessment teams Wednesday to get a full picture of the damage caused by a violent 7.5 magnitude earthquake that struck an island chain off the north coast overnight.

An AFP reporter and residents on New Britain said electricity was still out and radio stations off air some 12 hours after the quake, but there appeared to be no major structural damage or loss of life.

"We didn't really have that much damage thank goodness, just ornaments falling down and that kind of thing," said Ellen Morgan, a manager at Kokopo Beach Bungalows.

Officials at the nearby port of Rabaul said there was no major damage to the facility, which was operating as normal.

Papua New Guinea's poor communications infrastructure, lack of roads and difficult terrain mean that sometimes it can be days before the full impact of a natural disaster is known.

A spokesman for the National Disaster Centre in Port Moresby told AFP they had dispatched a team to uncover the full extent of the damage.

"Assessment teams have been deployed to the area but we have not heard from them yet, so we have nothing to report."