(Updated throughout with details, quotes)
A 7.4 magnitude earthquake struck Vanuatu's capital Port Vila on Tuesday, damaging buildings and killing at least one person, police said.
Local broadcaster VBTC broadcast images of vehicles crushed by a collapsing building and said one person was trapped under rubble.
“This is the strongest earthquake I have experienced in 21 years of living in Vanuatu and the Pacific Islands. I have seen many big earthquakes, but never one like this,” Dan McGarry, a journalist with the Organized Crime and Corruption Reporting Project (OCCRP), told Reuters.
Police said at least one person was killed and others injured were taken to hospital, McGarry said.
Images posted on social networks show the damage to a building housing the American, British, French and New Zealand embassies.
A spokesperson for the US Embassy in Papua New Guinea said its embassy in Port Vila had suffered “considerable damage” and was closed until further notice.
The New Zealand High Commission building, which shares premises with the American, French and British missions, also suffered “considerable damage”, said a spokesperson for the New Zealand Ministry of Foreign Affairs in a statement.
Communications were disrupted across the country, the statement said, while the Australian High Commission in Vanuatu said its communications systems were also affected.
Reuters was unable to confirm the number of casualties as Vanuatu authorities could not be reached.
The United States Geological Survey (USGS) said the quake occurred at a depth of 10 kilometers and that half a dozen aftershocks hit Vanuatu after the initial quake.
“There was one that knocked us all off our feet and got us ready to go again. But none of them were as bad as the initial shock,” Dan McGarry said.
A tsunami warning was issued earlier, before being canceled by the American system which issues these warnings.
Authorities in the United States, Australia and New Zealand have declared that there is no threat of a tsunami in their territory.
Australian Foreign Minister Penny Wong said Australia is closely monitoring the situation following the “devastating earthquake.”
“We stand ready to support Vanuatu as the extent of the damage is assessed. Vanuatu is part of our family and we will always be there in times of need,” she said in a statement.
(Surbhi Misra in Bangalore; French version Jean Terzian and Etienne Breban; edited by Augustin Turpin)
