A Month After PNG Quake and Continuing Aftershocks, Cash-Strapped Government Struggles to Help the Hardest-Hit

A Month After PNG Quake and Continuing Aftershocks, Cash-Strapped Government Struggles to Help the Hardest-Hit
Damage caused by an earthquake in Papua New Guinea is seen in this handout image released March 7, 2018. MAF International/Handout via Reuters
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SYDNEY–Almost a month after a deadly earthquake, Papua New Guinea is struggling to get aid to desperate survivors, having allocated just a fraction of its relief funds, while a rent dispute left disaster officials briefly locked out of their offices.

The scale of the emergency is testing the finances and capacity of one of the world’s poorest countries, disaster and relief officials say, after the magnitude 7.5 quake rocked its remote mountainous highlands on Feb. 26, killing 100 people.