Fears for disease after PNG waves

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UN officials say they are concerned about the risk of water-borne disease in the wake of the tidal waves which hit Papua New Guinea earlier this week.

A spokeswoman for the UN Office for the Co-ordination of Humanitarian Affairs said there was a lack of potable water, as many sources had been contaminated.

About 75,000 people have been displaced as a result of Tuesday's tidal waves.

The autonomous region of Bougainville, the Solomon Islands, and the Marshall Islands have also been affected.

Remote area

OCHA spokeswoman Elizabeth Byrs said its experts had arrived in the region on Wednesday, and had just reported their findings.

We think it will take six months to a year before the land can be cultivated again, because of the salt deposits OCHA spokeswoman Elizabeth Byrs

"The wells and water sources have been contaminated by salty water," she told the BBC.

"We think it will take six months to a year before the land can be cultivated again, because of the salt deposits," she added.

Ms Byrs added that an additional problem was the remoteness of some of the affected areas.

"There are so many outer islands," she said.

Heavy flooding

Tuesday's huge waves - reportedly caused by tidal surges - lashed an 800km (500-mile) stretch of Papua New Guinea's northern coast.

Coastal towns such as Wewak and the nearby island of New Ireland were particularly hard hit and sea levels rose by several feet.

Communications across the country are basic, and many tribes in isolated areas have little contact with each other, let alone the outside world.

Some 80% of the country's population live in rural areas with few or no facilities.

A huge earthquake off Papua New Guinea's northern coast in 1998 triggered a 16m (52ft) high tsunami that devastated the seaside town of Aitape and left more than 2,000 people dead.