The very strong earthquake off the coast of the capital Port Vila. The tsunami warning was lifted after a few hours.
Huge damage, and also a still unknown number of victims, after one shock of earthquake size 7.3 hit the island state of Vanuatuarchipelago in the South Pacific. The strongest earthquake, which occurred at 12.47 local time on Tuesday 17 December (2.47 in Italy), had its epicenter in the sea, but just 30 km from the capital, Port Vila. However, many doubts still remain about the actual depth of the tremor, with the various seismological services having located the hypocenter between 15 and 60 km below sea level.
One thing is certain: the damage was devastating and several victims are feared. This is also demonstrated by the fact that some collapse they have occurred even in the newest and safest buildings, such as those that house the embassies of the United States, France, the United Kingdom and New Zealand. At the moment, despite the great fear, the diplomatic personnel of the various countries would be safe.
Although at these latitudes earthquakes are very powerful and frequent, since Vanuatu it is an archipelago located just above the New Hebrides Platethe magnitude of the earthquake was particularly significant and caused not only collapses of buildings, but also phenomena of liquefaction of the ground and very significant landslides.
The intensity of earthquake and the proximity of the epicenter to the coast were such as to immediately trigger thetsunami warningwho however fortunately returned after a few hours. The risk of a violent tsunami having been averted, the first news of some victims arrived from Port Vila and its surroundings. Their number, however, remains unspecified and more precise information on the budget will arrive only in the next few hours.
