It is an archipelago in the Pacific, particularly vulnerable to natural disasters. Vanuatu, located in the northeast of Australia, was hit by a 7.3 magnitude earthquake on Tuesday. The latter caused significant damage and, according to a witness, victims. A resident, Michael Thompson, said he had seen lifeless bodies in the capital. He reported collapsed bridges and landslides caused by the earthquake. “There were people in the buildings downtown, there were bodies when we passed by,” he said.
A tsunami warning
The epicenter of this earthquake detected at 12:47 p.m. local time was recorded at a depth of 43 kilometers at sea, just 30 kilometers west of the capital of this island nation, according to the United States Geological Survey (USGS), triggering a tsunami warning.
The United States embassy in Port Vila “has suffered considerable damage and is closed until further notice,” the American diplomatic mission in Papua New Guinea said in a statement on X. According to the images published online by Michael Thompson, the earthquake damaged this building, which also houses the French embassy and the New Zealand diplomatic representation.
According to images shared on social media, the earthquake toppled a concrete pillar, cracked a wall and distorted windows in the building. The floor “no longer exists. It's completely flat. The three upper floors are still standing” but have fallen in height, described Michael Thompson who also indicated that “the telephone network has been cut”.
A vulnerable archipelago
The earthquake led the Pacific Tsunami Warning Center (PTWC) to issue a tsunami alert, which has since been lifted. “Tsunami waves were observed,” the organization said in a bulletin, after initially fearing the arrival of waves up to one meter high along certain coasts of Vanuatu.
Earthquakes are common in Vanuatu, an archipelago ranked among the countries most vulnerable to natural disasters such as earthquakes, storm damage, floods and tsunamis, according to the annual Global Risks Report.
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