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 Mr. Thompson, the earthquake damaged this building, which also houses the French embassy and the New Zealand diplomatic representation.
The earthquake toppled a concrete pillar, cracked a wall and distorted windows in the building, which also houses the diplomatic representations of other countries, including New Zealand, again according to images shared on social networks.
The Australian embassy in Vanuatu was evacuated, and Australian Foreign Minister Penny Wong announced that she was offering her country’s assistance to Vanuatu, a “friendly” country.
The Vanuatu government website was not accessible after the earthquake.
The Red Cross on site has already announced that it has volunteers ready to provide assistance.
Earthquakes are common in Vanuatu, a low-lying archipelago of 320,000 people that straddles the Pacific seismic Ring of Fire, an arc of intense tectonic activity that stretches from Southeast Asia to the Pacific basin.
Vanuatu is ranked among the countries most vulnerable to natural disasters such as earthquakes, storm damage, floods and tsunamis, according to the annual Global Risks Report.
