Vanuatu hit by magnitude 7.4 earthquake, UN reports six unconfirmed deaths

(Reuters) - An earthquake of magnitude 7.4 struck Vanuatu’s capital Port Vila on Tuesday, with the United Nations reporting six unconfirmed deaths and that two reservoirs and a hospital had been damaged.

State broadcaster VBTC showed footage of vehicles crushed under the debris of collapsed buildings and boulders strewn across a highway. Drone footage showed landslips near a shipping terminal.

Communications networks on the Pacific archipelago were down, New Zealand said.

Australia’s Foreign Minister Penny Wong said there was significant damage and Australia was preparing to deploy assistance including urban search and rescue and emergency medical teams on Wednesday.

Port Vila’s international airport was closed, Vanuatu’s High Commission in Canberra said.

The U.N. Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs estimated 116,000 people had been affected by the earthquake. It said there were six unconfirmed deaths and damage to the two main water reservoirs.

The structure of the hospital in Port Vila was affected, with the operating theatre not functioning and triage tents set up outside to manage the influx of patients, it said in a statement.

Authorities were unable to communicate with the National Disaster Management Office until Tuesday evening, when Starlink satellite services were provided, it said.

Dan McGarry, a journalist with the Organised Crime and Corruption Reporting Project based in Vanuatu, earlier told Reuters that police had said at least one person had been killed and injured people had been taken to hospital.

Reuters was not immediately able to confirm the casualty figures, with communications outages making it hard to reach Vanuatu authorities for comment.

“DEVASTATED FAMILIES”

Fiji Prime Minister Sitiveni Rabuka said on Facebook he was “saddened by the news of the earthquake which has claimed lives and devastated families in Vanuatu”, his comments also suggesting the death toll might be higher.

Commonwealth Secretary General Patricia Scotland said on X many people had been injured and infrastructure had been destroyed.

“It was the most violent earthquake I’ve experienced in my 21 years living in Vanuatu and in the Pacific Islands. I’ve seen a lot of large earthquakes, never one like this,” McGarry said.

Security camera footage from the moment the quake struck showed people scattering in panic in a garage and cars rocking on the ground.

Footage posted on social media showed buckled windows and collapsed concrete pillars on a building hosting foreign missions in the capital, including the U.S., British, French and New Zealand embassies.

A spokesperson for the U.S. Embassy in Papua New Guinea said its embassy in Port Vila had sustained “considerable damage”. All personnel who were in the U.S. Embassy building were able to safely evacuate, the spokesperson added.

New Zealand’s High Commission building, which is co-located with the U.S., French and British missions, had “sustained significant damage”, a foreign ministry spokesperson said in a statement.

There were communications outages across the country, the New Zealand statement added, while the Australian High Commission in Vanuatu said its communication systems had also been affected.

Vanuatu’s government is in caretaker mode ahead of a national election, after the president dissolved parliament last month.

The U.S. Geological Survey said the quake was at a depth of 10 km (6 miles).

Half a dozen aftershocks hit Vanuatu following the initial quake, USGS data showed. Several were heavy enough to be felt in Port Vila, McGarry said.

The U.S. Tsunami Warning System cancelled an initial tsunami warning for Vanuatu.

Source: Reuters

--Agencies