The earthquake, measuring 7.3, occurred Tuesday at 12:47 p.m. local time (01:47 GMT) off the coast of the main island of this Pacific archipelago, where Port Vila is located.
According to a report obtained by AFP from the National Disaster Management Office, 14 people died: four who were hospitalized in the capital, six killed in a landslide and four in a collapsed building, according to this press release in date of Tuesday evening.
Among the dead were two Chinese nationals, Beijing’s ambassador to Vanuatu reported on Chinese television.
More than 200 people received treatment in hospital, according to the government report.
The shaking caused “considerable structural damage” in at least 10 buildings including a hospital, and also damaged three bridges and two power lines.
Two important water reserves supplying Port-Vila, “totally destroyed”, will require reconstruction, according to the same report. The main port of Port-Vila is closed “due to a major landslide”.
The head of the Red Cross in the Pacific, Katie Greenwood, also mentioned on “a lot of damage to homes”.
Several buildings collapsed, including the one housing the French representation, “destroyed” according to the ambassador, specifying on “safe and sound”.
Michael Thompson, a resident contacted by AFP via satellite phone, due to still “intermittent” access to the mobile and internet network in the country according to Port Vila, reported that three people had been taken out from under the rubble of a three-story business destroyed.
“Unfortunately, one of them did not survive”he testified.
Earthquakes are frequent in Vanuatu, a low-altitude archipelago of 320,000 inhabitants located on the Pacific Ring of Fire, an arc of intense tectonic activity which extends over the majority of the rim of this ocean.
It is ranked among the countries most vulnerable to natural disasters such as earthquakes, storms, floods and tsunamis, according to the annual Global Risks Report.
Australian and New Zealand deployments
The airport serving Port Vila is “not operational”, but nevertheless allows the arrival of humanitarian aid flights, the Vanuatu government said.
France said it stood “alongside the Vanuatu authorities” and was prepared “to contribute to relief operations” if they requested it, its Ministry of Foreign Affairs announced on Tuesday.
Australia, Vanuatu’s largest neighbor, is deploying doctors and rescue teams by military planes on Wednesday, Defense Minister Richard Marles announced to the public channel ABC.
New Zealand, for its part, took off a surveillance plane to assess the damage, Foreign Minister Winston Peters said in a statement, offering to send personnel and supplies “once the Port airport -Vila will have reopened.”
“We stand ready to provide assistance to the Government of Vanuatu if requested”indicated on X the American diplomatic mission in Papua New Guinea, in the northwest of the battered archipelago.
The Washington embassy in Port Vila, established in the same building as that of France, “has suffered considerable damage and is closed until further notice”, explained the same source, specifying that all staff were ” safe and sound”.
A tsunami alert was initially issued by the Pacific Tsunami Warning Center (PTWC) in the wake of the earthquake, fearing blades up to one meter high along certain coasts of Vanuatu. It has since been lifted.
A 5.5 magnitude aftershock occurred after the initial earthquake, followed by a series of smaller tremors.
According to Behzad Fatahi, a civil and seismic engineer from the University of Technology Sydney, we must be attentive to the delayed consequences.
“On s’attend” until the earthquake “caused cracks in masonry walls, instability of foundations and the tilting of vulnerable structures”, he warned.
