Aitape

Aitape is a coastal town in Sandaun (West Sepik) Province on Papua New Guinea's north coast, roughly midway between the provincial capitals of Wewak and Vanimo. American forces captured it in April 1944 during World War II, and Australian troops then fought the final mainland campaign of the war from Aitape through to Japan's surrender in 1945. In July 1998 a magnitude 7.0 offshore earthquake triggered an undersea landslide and a tsunami that killed more than 2,000 people along this coast, with the worst destruction at nearby Warapu village.