Powerful earthquake hits Vanuatu, causing ‘numerous victims’

A witness told AFP he saw bodies in the capital, Port Vila, where buildings collapsed.

A magnitude 7.3 earthquake struck Vanuatu on Tuesday, December 17, in broad daylight, causing significant damage. A brief tsunami alert was issued in this Pacific archipelago, particularly vulnerable to natural disasters. The French embassy was “destroyed”but diplomatic staff are “safe and sound”announced the French ambassador, Jean-Baptiste Jeangène Vilmer. He reported “numerous victims in the country”adding that the flights were “suspended” and communications “cut”in a country now without “water or electricity”.

A witness told AFP that he had seen corpses in the capital, Port Vila. “There were people in the buildings downtown, there were bodies when we passed by”said Michael Thompson, also mentioning collapsed bridges and landslides caused by the earthquake.

Videos on social networks show the partial destruction of a building housing several diplomatic representations, including the French embassy. The United States Embassy in Port Vila, which is also located in this building, “has suffered considerable damage and is closed until further notice”said the American diplomatic mission in Papua New Guinea. In a press release, France said it stood “alongside the Vanuatu authorities” and is willing “to contribute to relief operations” if requested by the authorities.

The epicenter of this earthquake was recorded at a depth of 43 kilometers at sea, just 30 kilometers west of the capital, according to the United States Geological Survey (USGS). Earthquakes are common in Vanuatu, a low-lying archipelago of 320,000 people that straddles the Pacific seismic Ring of Fire.