SYDNEY, April 3 (Xinhua) -- Papua New Guinea Prime Minister James Marape visited areas in the country's East Sepik and Chimbu provinces in the past days, as natural disasters, including floods, landslides and a major earthquake, recently wreaked havoc on local communities.

Marape flew to Angoram and Wosera-Gawi in East Sepik on Sunday, taking the opportunity to make an aerial assessment of the damages while assuring local residents of government support, according to a statement released Tuesday by PNG's Department of Prime Minister and National Executive Council.

In mid-March, people living along the Sepik River saw their homes and food gardens destroyed by a major flooding after torrential rains soaked the area. Following that, a 6.9-magnitude earthquake also hit the province on March 24, resulting in the loss of three lives.

During the prime minister's visit to Wosera-Gawi, Marape expressed his sympathies to the victims.

He announced that a disaster relief package of 2 million PNG Kinas (about 523,571 U.S. dollars) was being released by the National Treasury to the East Sepik Provincial government.

"Local level governments, provincial governments, and district development authorities are the working hands of the national government on the ground so we will empower them to assist our people with immediate relief and care as well as next phase of restoration and development," said Marape.

The prime minister also traveled to Gumine and Gembogl in Chimbu province on Monday to deliver relief assistance.

On March 15, local newspaper The National reported that flash floods and huge landslides, caused by heavy downpours, killed 23 people in the province. Enditem

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