For Doddy Morris, a journalist with the Vanuatu Daily Post, the 7.3 magnitude earthquake that struck Vanuatu last month on December 17, 2024, was more than just a story — it was a personal tragedy.

Amid the chaos, Morris learned his brother, an Anglican priest, had died.

“My mom called me crying and asked, ‘Did your brother die?’. I wasn’t sure and told her I was heading to Vila Central Hospital right away,” he recalled.

Morris arrived at the hospital to confirm the worst. “My heart sank when I confirmed that my brother had indeed passed away. At that moment, I forgot about my job.”

Despite his grief, Morris joined his remaining brothers at the hospital mortuary that night, staying by their deceased sibling’s side and mourning together. “We were the only ones there. We spent the whole night drinking kava outside while he lay in the cool room,” he said.

The quake — which claimed 14 lives, injured more than 265 people, and displaced more than 1000 — left an indelible mark on Port Vila and its residents. Infrastructure damage was extensive, with schools, homes, and water reserves destroyed, and the Central Business District (CBD) heavily impacted.

In the days following the earthquake, Morris returned to his role as a reporter, capturing the unfolding crisis despite the emotional toll. “When the earthquake struck, I thought I was going to die myself,” he said. Yet, minutes after the tremor subsided, he grabbed his camera and rushed to the CBD.

At the heart of the destruction, he witnessed harrowing scenes. “I was shocked to see the collapsed Billabong building. A body lay covered with a blue tarpaulin, and Pro Rescue teams were trying to save others who were trapped inside,” Morris recounted.

The lack of a network connection frustrated his efforts to report live, but he pressed on, documenting the damage.

A month after the disaster, Morris continues to cover the aftermath as Vanuatu transitions from emergency response to recovery. “A month has passed since the earthquake, but the memories remain fresh. We don’t know when Port Vila will return to normal,” he said.

His photojournalism has been demonstrating the true impact of the earthquake as he continues to capture the mourning of a nation after such a tragic event.

The earthquake left deep scars, not only on the nation’s infrastructure but also on its people. “Unlike cyclones, which we can predict, prepare for, and survive, earthquakes strike without warning and show no mercy,” Morris said.

Through grief and uncertainty, Morris remains committed to his work, documenting the resilience of his community and the challenges they face as they rebuild. His reporting serves as a testament to the strength of both the people of Vanuatu and a journalist who continues to bear witness, even in the face of personal loss.

Reporting on his own community while grappling with personal loss is a reality for many Pacific Island journalists who cover disasters. For Doddy Morris, reporting on the traumatic events of the earthquake meant confronting his own grief while documenting the grief of others.

Dr Lagipoiva Cherelle Jackson is a Pacific journalism trainer with the Dart Center for Journalism and Trauma. She expresses her support for Morris and his colleagues in showing “extraordinary courage and resilience”. This article was first published by The New Atoll and is republished with permission.

Article by AsiaPacificReport.nz

Today marks one month since a 7.3-magnitude earthquake struck Vanuatu’s capital, Port Vila, claiming 14 lives, injuring more than 200 people, and displacing thousands more.

Downtown Port Vila remains a no-go zone.

Star Wharf, the international port, is still out of action and parts of the city and some of the villages surrounding it still have not had their water supply reconnected.

The Recovery Operations Centre estimates around 6000 workers from 200 businesses that operate in the CBD have been impacted.

All the while, loud rumbling tremors continue to rock the city; a recent one measuring above magnitude 5 on the Richter scale.

Leinasei Tarisiu lives outside of Vila but came in to vote in the snap election yesterday. She said children in her household still panic when there is an earthquake, even if it is small.

“They are still afraid. Even last night when we had that one that happened, we all ran outside,” she said.

“It’s hard for us to remain in the house.”

Ongoing trauma
The only mental health specialist at Vila Central Hospital, Dr Jimmy Obed, said the ongoing seismic activity is re-traumatising many.

Obed said as things slowly returned to something resembling normalcy, more people were reaching out for mental health support.

“What we try and tell them is that it’s a normal thing for you to be having this anxiety,” he said.

“And then we give them some skills. How to calm themselves down . . . when they are panicking, or are under stress, or have difficulty sleeping.

“Simple skills that they can use — even how children can calm and regulate their emotions.”

Trenold Tari, an aviation worker who spoke to RNZ Pacific after he had cast his vote, said he hopes they are able to elect leaders with good ideas for Vanuatu’s future.

“And not just the vision to run the government and the nation but also who has leadership qualities and is transparent. People who can work with communities and who don’t just think about themselves,” he said.

Wanting quick rebuild
Many voters in the capital said they wanted leaders who would act quickly to rebuild the quake-stricken city.

Others said they were sick of political instability.

This week’s snap election was triggered by a premature dissolution of parliament last year; the second consecutive time President Nike Vurobaravu has acted on a council of ministers’ request to dissolve the house in the face of a leadership challenge.

Counting this week’s election, Vanuatu will have had five prime ministers in the last four years.

The chairperson of the Seaside Tongoa community, Paul Fred Tariliu, said they have discussed this as a group and made their feelings clear to their election candidate.

“We told our candidate to tell the presidents of all the political parties they are affiliated with — that if they end up in government and they find at some point they don’t have the number and a motion is brought against you, please be honest and set a good example — tell one group to step down and let another government come in,” Tariliu said.

Desperate need of aid
Election fever aside, thousands of people in Port Vila are still in desperate need of assistance.

The head of the Vanuatu Red Cross Society is looking to start distributing financial relief assistance to families affected by last month’s earthquake.

The society’s secretary-general, Dickinson Tevi, said some villages were still without water and a lot of people were out of work.

“We have realised that there are still a few requests coming from the communities. People who haven’t been assessed during the emergency,” Tevi said.

“So, we have made plans to do a more detailed assessment after this to make sure we don’t leave anyone out.”

Tevi said with schools due to restart soon, parents and families who had lost their main source of income were under a lot of stress.

In a release, Save the Children Vanuatu country director Polly Bank, said disasters often had the power to suddenly turn children’s lives upside down, especially if they had lost loved ones, had their education interrupted, or had been forced to flee their homes.

Critical for children’s recovery
“In the aftermath of any disaster, it is critical for children recovering that they are able to return to their normal routines as soon as possible,” she said.

“And for most kids, this would include returning to school, where they can reconnect with friends and share their experiences.”

She said at least 12,500 children in the country may be forced to start the new school year in temporary learning centres with at least 100 classrooms across the country damaged or destroyed.

It is back to business for Vanuatu today after the public holiday that was declared yesterday to allow people to go and vote.

Unofficial election results continue to trickle in with local media reporting an even distribution of seats across the country for the Leaders Party, Vanua’aku Party, Reunification Movement for Change and the Iauko Group.

But it is still early days, with official results a while away.

This article is republished under a community partnership agreement with RNZ.

Article by AsiaPacificReport.nz

The electoral commission in Vanuatu is trying its best to clear up some confusion with the voting process for tomorrow’s snap election.

Principal Electoral Officer Guilain Malessas said this is due to the tight turnaround to deliver this election after Parliament was dissolved last year.

The Vanuatu Electoral Office has confirmed that 52 seats, across 18 constituencies, will be contested by 217 candidates, seven of whom are women.

But Malessas said against all odds, preparations were almost complete.

The final ballot boxes are being deployed to the farthest polling stations in the country and final checks are being carried out.

He said the premature dissolution of parliament last year forced them to have to deliver an election a year early, and within a two-month timeframe, as required in the constitution.

“The final challenge that remains is for us to make sure all the ballot boxes that we have deployed have reached all the polling stations safely,” he said.

“Also, there is the challenge of a new ballot structure which we have not had enough awareness on.”

He said they had not had enough time to conduct community awareness about the new system, and there was also new electoral legislation, which was passed in preparation for 2026 — the original date for the next election.

“With the new ballot structure you just have a single page with all the candidates and their symbols on it and you just have to tick the one you want,” Malessas said.

“We have not had enough awareness.

“We have used all existing social media platforms but lots of people in rural areas do not have access to these things.”

Extra training
Malessas said they had had extra training for polling station officials to help voters on Thursday, and had printed lots of informational material to be posted up at polling stations.

He said election candidates had also been conducting awareness during their political campaigns.

With the December 17 earthquake forcing the relocation of many polling stations, they were also anticipating people turning up with national ID cards at the wrong polling stations.

To manage this, they plan to verify that the person is a resident of the constituency and that their ID card was issued before the close of voter registrations for this election on 3 December 2024.

This article is republished under a community partnership agreement with RNZ.

Article by AsiaPacificReport.nz

Out of the rubble of last year’s 7.3 magnitude earthquake that hit Vanuatu’s capital Port Vila on December 17 and the snap election due next week on January 16, a new leadership is required to reset the country’s developmental trajectory.

Persistent political turmoil has hampered the Pacific nation’s ability to deal with a compounding set of social and economic shocks over recent years, caused by climate-related and other natural disasters.

The earthquake is estimated to have conservatively caused US$244 million (VUV29 billion) in damage, and the Vanuatu government’s ability to pay for disaster response, the election, and resume public service delivery will require strong, committed and stable leadership.

Prior to the devastating quake and dramatic dissolution of Parliament on November 18, economist Peter Judge from Vanuatu-based Pacific Consulting warned of an evolving economic emergency.

Vanuatu’s US$1 billion economy faced a concerning decline in government revenue from value-added tax, down 25 percent on the previous year.

This was a ripple effect from the decline in economic activity after the collapse of national airline Air Vanuatu last May, as well as the falling revenues from the troubled Citizenship by Investment Programme.

Both were plagued by lack of oversight by parliamentarians.

Struggling economy
In 2024, Vanuatu is expected to record about 1 percent economic growth, as it struggles to climb out of the red and back to pre-pandemic levels.

Conversely, Vanuatu has a much more positive, although somewhat contradictory democratic profile.

According to the Global State of Democracy Initiative, Vanuatu is one of the more democratic states in the Pacific islands region, and currently ranks as 45th in the world.

But this performance comes with a significant price. Leadership turnover is frequent, with 28 prime ministerial terms in just 44 years of statehood, 20 of those in the last 25 years — the highest frequency of change in the Melanesian region.

The impacts of disrupted leadership and political instability are highly visible. Government decision-making and service delivery is grindingly slow.

In Vanuatu’s Parliament, the legislative process is frequently deferred due to regular motions of no confidence, with several critical bills still awaiting MPs’ attention.

Last October, for example, the Vanuatu government proposed a 2025 budget 10 percent smaller than 2024’s, due to reduced economic activity and declining government revenue.

Sudden dissolution
Parliament was unable to approve this year’s budget due to its sudden dissolution on November 18, only two-and-a-half years into a four-year political term.

This is the second consecutive presidential dissolution of Parliament, the previous one in 2022 also occurring barely two-and-a-half years into its term.

The Bill for the appropriation of the 2025 budget now awaits the formation of the next legislature for approval. In the meantime, earthquake recovery and election management costs accumulate under a caretaker government.

With deepening economic hardship and industries facing slow economic growth across multiple sectors, voters are looking for leadership that can stabilise the compounding cost of living pressures.

The new government will need to urgently tackle overdue, unresolved issues pertaining to reliable inter-island transport and air connectivity, outstanding teacher salaries and greater opportunities for the nation’s restive youth.

The youth unemployment rate is at 10.7 percent and rising.

Democracy with political stability is the holy grail for Vanuatu. But attaining this legendary and supposedly miraculous prize comes with costs attached.

Rules come into force
In response to civic and youth activism in late 2023 calling for political stability and transparency, the last Parliament approved a national referendum to make political affiliation more accountable and end party hopping.The rules come into force in the next parliamentary term for the first time.

The referendum passed successfully on May 29, 2024, but cost US$2.9 million. The 2022 snap election required US$1.4 million and the 2025 poll is expected to require another US$1.6 million.

While revenue from candidature fees of US$250,000 does cover part of these costs, each legislature transition also weighs on the public purse.

The current crop of outgoing 52 parliamentarians were paid out US$1.62 million in gratuities and benefits — around US$31,000 per MP — even though most did not see out their full terms.

Vanuatu’s average annual household income in 2020 was US$9000.

Whatever the outcome of the 2025 snap election, the incoming government will need to refocus attention on stabilising the trajectory of Vanuatu’s economy and development.

The next legislature — the 14th — will need to commit to stability in the interests of Vanuatu’s people and the nation’s development.

Budget, earthquake recovery priorities
The most immediate priorities for a new government should be the passage of the 2025 national budget and the implementation of an earthquake recovery and reconstruction plan.

In the 45 years since throwing off the British and French colonial yoke, citizens have enthusiastically done their duty at elections in the expectation of a national leadership that will take Vanuatu forward.

Now their faith appears to be waning, after the 2022 poll saw voter turnout — a key indicator of the health of a democracy — dropped below 50 percent for the first time since independence.

This election therefore needs to see a return on the considerable investment made in Vanuatu’s democratic processes, both in terms of financial cost to successive governments and donors, and more to the point, a political dividend for voters.

Anna Naupa is a ni-Vanuatu scholar and currently a PhD student at the Australian National University. Republished from BenarNews with permission.

Article by AsiaPacificReport.nz

A large 7.3 magnitude earthquake has struck off the coast of Vanuatu’s capital Port Vila , shortly after 3pm NZT today.

The US Geological Survey says the quake was recorded at a depth of 10 km (6.21 miles).

Locals have been sharing footage of serious damage to infrastructure in Port Vila.

According to one post on Vanuatu Dialogue Live Facebook group, the building which is occupied by diplomatic embassies has suffered significant damage.

There are also reports of people trapped under buildings that have collapsed from the shake.

Buildings collapsed in Port Vila, Vanuatu after strong 7.4 earthquake.
Rescuers trying to reach trapped people. #earthquake #Vanuatu #terremoto #sismo pic.twitter.com/UCbRiW6bLb

— Disasters Daily (@DisastersAndI) December 17, 2024

Tsunami waves
The US Tsunami Warning Centre in Hawai’i said tsunami waves had been observed and were forecast for some coasts.

It expected tsunami waves reaching one meter to be possible for some coasts of Vanuatu.

The tsunami was expected to reach the Anatom Island and Esperitu Santo in Vanuatu.

Fiji, Kermadic Islands, Kiribati, New Caledonia, Papua New Guinea, Solomon Islands, Tuvalu and Wallis and Futuna faced a forecast for tsunami waves less than 30 cm high.

It said the coastal regions of Hawai’i, American Samoa, Guam and the CNMI should refer to Pacific Tsunami Warning Center messages.

Massive earthquake in Port Vila just now.

— Dan McGarry (@VanuatuDan) December 17, 2024

Massive landslides near our international shipping terminal. A lot of digging out ahead. This is going to impact our ability to respond. pic.twitter.com/dpgyK8tcpf

— Dan McGarry (@VanuatuDan) December 17, 2024

Video by Dan McGarry.

One News reports that the NZ High Commission building “sustained significant damage”.

New Zealand’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs said it had been in contact with the country’s High Commissioner Nicci Simmonds in Port Vila.

“Our High Commission building, which is co-located with the United States, the French and the United Kingdom, has sustained significant damage.

Footage posted to X shows damage to the High Commission building in Port Villa.

7.4 Earthquake damage in Vanuatu.
December 17, 2024 #earthquake #sismo #terremoto pic.twitter.com/8n6z0QEaQe

— Disasters Daily (@DisastersAndI) December 17, 2024

“We are in the process of contacting our staff to check they are safe.”

Forty five New Zealanders were registered on SafeTravel as being in Vanuatu. The ministry said it expected there would be more who were not registered.

This article is republished under a community partnership agreement with RNZ with additional information from Vanuatu journalist Dan McGarry’s news feed.

Article by AsiaPacificReport.nz

New Zealand’s Urban Search and Rescue (USAR) says impending bad weather for Port Vila is now the most significant post-quake hazard.

A tropical low in the Coral Sea is expected to move into Vanuatu waters, bringing heavy rainfall.

Authorities have issued warnings to people living near landslide-prone areas around the Vanuatu capital.

People living near low lying areas or rivers have also been told to move, should water levels rise.

The heavy rain may also cause flash flooding.

USAR team leader Ken Cooper said last Tuesday’s 7.3 earthquake caused significant landslides.

“With the weather system that’s coming in, there is a high likelihood that the landslides continue and we need to ensure that there’s no life risks if those landslides should move further,” Cooper said.

Death toll now 12
Aftershocks have continued, and early this morning, the US Geological Survey recorded a magnitude 6.1 quake, at a depth of 40km west of Port Vila.

New Zealand and Vanuatu engineers were assessing prioritised areas in the capital, and a decision would then be made as to whether a community needed to be evacuated, Cooper said.

Since the team had been in Vanuatu, it had taken damage assessments of buildings and infrastructure, with the Vanuatu government, allowing them to prioritise the biggest risks and to assist the community in recovering more quickly, he said.

The official death toll from Vanuatu’s 7.3 magnitude quake is now 12 according to the Vanuatu Disaster Management office.

This has been confirmed by the Vila Central Hospital.

Earlier unofficial reports had placed the death toll at 16.

The team had completed almost 1000 assessments, alongside the Australia USAR team, which was a significant task, Cooper said.

Both teams shared common tools and practices, which had allowed them to work simultaneously and helped the teams to quickly carry out the assessments, he said.

“When we undertake the assessments that really gives us a clear picture of what should be prioritised and we work with the [Vanuatu] government and their infrastructure cluster, and some of the priorities we have looked at are bridges, [the] airport, the port, and also landslides,” he said.

Resilience shown by locals
The deployment lead for New Zealand in Vanuatu praised the resilience of the Ni-Vanuatu people following the 7.3 earthquake.

Thousands of people had been affected by the disaster but the response effort was being hampered by damage to core infrastructure including the country’s telecommunications network.

Emma Dunlop-Bennett said the New Zealand teams on the ground were working in partnership with the Vanuatu government.

She said she was in awe of the strength of locals after the disaster.

“As we go out into communities, working . . .  with the government, people are out there, getting up and doing what they can to get themselves into business as usual, life as usual. I am really in awe and humbled.

The purpose of the New Zealand team being in Vanuatu was three-fold: To provide urgent and critical humanitarian assistance, a response for consular need to New Zealanders, and to support a smooth transition from relief, response to recovery, Dunlop-Bennett said.

Then to business as usual, working along side the priority need identified by the Vanuatu government, she added.

This article is republished under a community partnership agreement with RNZ.

Article by AsiaPacificReport.nz

A number of Kiwis have been successfully evacuated from Vanuatu after a devastating earthquake shook the Pacific island nation earlier this week.

The death toll was still unclear, though at least 14 people were killed according to an earlier statement from the Vanuatu government.

The 7.3 magnitude quake struck on Tuesday, and more than 200 people were injured.

Searchers were racing against time to find survivors in the rubble, Pacific correspondent Barbara Dreaver reported for 1News Breakfast from Port Vila.

She also said that aftershocks continued to shake the country, making search efforts more difficult.

“Our team has integrated with the Australians, that is to make the most of this very small window that they have now to find survivors,” she said.

“Time is not on their side, so they’ve really got to make the most of it.

“It’s a very volatile situation still, we’ve been speaking to some very distressed people trying to get home.”

Volunteers and rescue teams arrive at Ifira, a small island off Port Vila, after the #earthquake that hit #Vanuatu. The area is obstructed by large rocks resulting from #landslides. The death toll rose to 14, with dozens injured.#extremeweather#nature#climate pic.twitter.com/ZBapgvDM6p

— Genesis Watchman Report (@ReportWatchman) December 18, 2024

The New Zealand Defence Force (NZDF) said late last night that a flight carrying 93 passengers, almost all Kiwis and their families, had left Port Vila at about 7.45pm New Zealand time.

“A small number of foreign nationals are also being assisted on this flight,” the NZDF said.

Foreign Minister Winston Peters confirmed the flight’s arrival overnight.

He wrote on X at about 5.30am today: “We are pleased to have evacuated 93 people from Port Vila on a @NZDefenceForce flight overnight.

“The passengers were mostly New Zealanders and their families, but also included around 12 foreign nationals from Samoa, the United Kingdom, Singapore, France and Finland.

“Our consular team continues to assist New Zealanders affected by the earthquake in Vanuatu.”

Any Kiwis still in Vanuatu were urged to call MFAT on +64 99 20 20 20.

“New Zealand’s efforts to aid Vanuatu with its earthquake response, through the provision of personnel and relief supplies, continues,” Peters said.

Australian couple describe earthquake ‘mayhem’

Australian couple Susie Nailon and her partner Tony Ferreira told 1News about the “mayhem” of being inside the Billabong shop when the quake hit.

“It sort of started to rumble a little bit and I looked up in the ceiling and saw the ceiling start to come down on the fluorescent light. But it wasn’t just a shake, it no longer shook left or right, the whole ground started to wave,” said Ferreira.

“The whole roof had caved down . . .  It just felt like a deck of cards. [It came] straight down, flattened everything.

“And the force of it just pushed all the windows, plastered glass straight out in the road from all that weight,” he said.

He said there were about six or seven others in the shop with them at the time, and said the couple only made it out by “literally seconds”.

“If my rack had been a couple more metres in, then there’s no chance. It was that quick. There was no warning,” he said.

Nailon said the aftershocks had been really triggering, and as soon as she felt something she was “straight out the door”.

“No one has a chance if you’re in the wrong place at the wrong time,” she said.

Kiwi helping out in Vanuatu

New Zealander Jason Horan, who lives in Port Vila, told 1News it was “just chaos” in the aftermath of the quake.

“There [were] people lying on the ground everywhere, buildings falling down, so it was pretty scary,” he said.

He said he watched the road move “like a wave”.

Since the quake, Horan said he had been helping others simply because he wanted to.

“I’ve been running everybody around, just trying to supply everybody with food and water. So I go around to every hotel and resort making sure they know who to talk to and stuff like that.”

He said he wanted to do his part in “making sure people are okay”.

“All the locals are pulling together though . . .  they’re resilient, so it’s really good.”

“Our team has integrated with the Australians, that is to make the most of this very small window that they have now to find survivors.

“Time is not on their side, so they’ve really got to make the most of it,” she said.

“It’s a very volatile situation still, we’ve been speaking to some very distressed people trying to get home.”

NZ High Commissioner on quake and what comes next

New Zealand High Commissioner to Vanuatu Nicci Simmonds said the commission was in the top storey of a three-storey concrete building.

“I was at my desk at the time [of the quake], so that’s about as far away from the entry/exit as you can get,” she said.

“So you follow your schoolgirl training and you just get under the table, holding on while it jumped around a lot. A lot of noise.”

She said there was dust everywhere when the shaking stopped. She tried to check on a colleague.

“Very close to her desk, the building had completely separated. There was a three-storey drop.”

Everyone managed to get out of the building, Simmonds said. Initially, communications were the biggest challenge, she added.

“Now, it’s making sure that reliable safe drinking water, power, and basic infrastructure is up and running.”

Simmonds said the impact was “highly localised”, based on aerial surveillance.

“It’s a significant, major event in Port Vila, but it doesn’t appear that there have been villages buried by landslides elsewhere, so that’s been an enormous relief.”

She said the response was “the kind of job that surges, and peaks, and changes”.

Republished from 1News with permission.

Article by AsiaPacificReport.nz

There are conflicting reports of the official death toll from this week’s massive earthquake in Vanuatu as rescue teams continue to scour the rubble for survivors.

On Tuesday, the Vanuatu National Disaster Management Office reported 14 deaths.

It said four people had been confirmed dead by the hospital, six others were killed in a landslide and four others died in a collapsed building.

But yesterday, the disaster management office reported only nine people had been confirmed dead by the hospital and made no mention of the deaths it had earlier attributed to the landslides and collapsed buildings.

One consistent figure is the more than 200 people injured, with the hospital saying many patients were being treated for broken bones.

This area has been closed to the public and search and rescue operations were ongoing.

Any buildings still standing had sustained significant structural damage.

The Port Vila main wharf remained closed due to a major landslide.

The two main water reservoirs supplying Port Vila had been totally destroyed and would require reconstruction — an assessment of the rest of the water network was ongoing.

A boil water notice is in place for all of Vila.

Power and telecommunications
The utility company Unelco is working to restore power and water supply.

Vodafone Vanuatu informed its customers that instant messaging on Messenger, Viber and WhatsApp had been restored on its mobile network.

Audio and video calling via these platforms, however, was still unavailable by today.

Vodafone said its team was working hard to resolve these issues and fully restore its internet services.

State of emergency
A one-week state of emergency was declared on Tuesday by the President, Nikenike Vurobaravu, for the worst affected areas.

Police had been urging people to adhere to the nightly curfew of 6pm to 6am local time.

They had also warned of a greater chance of opportunistic crimes being committed after the disaster and urged everyone to look out for each other.

Commercial flights
There were no commercial flights operating into or out of Vanuatu.

Local authorities said on Tuesday they were closing the Bauerfield International Airport to commercial flights for 72 hours to repair damage and prioritise disaster relief flights.

Passengers booked to fly Fiji Airways to Vila on Thursday had their flights moved to December 21.

Solomon Airlines had also indicated it would resume flying to Vanuatu from Saturday.

Virgin Airlines has cancelled flights until Sunday and a spokesperson for the Qantas Group told the ABC they were monitoring the situation closely.

International aid
International defence and medical personnel, search and rescue teams and disaster response experts from New Zealand, Australia and France were now on the ground in Port Vila.

They were helping local emergency response teams, which had been working around the clock since Tuesday’s 7.3 magnitude quake alongside locally based staff at UN agencies and non-government organisations in Vila.

Time is of the essence for the teams scouring the rubble for any sign of survivors.

This article is republished under a community partnership agreement with RNZ.

Article by AsiaPacificReport.nz

Vanuatu is taking stock of damage from a powerful 7.3 magnitude earthquake that has killed at least 14 people and collapsed buildings in the capital Port Vila, as the first trickle of international assistance began arriving in the disaster-prone Pacific nation.

The quake rattled the island nation, located about 1900km northeast of the Australian city of Brisbane, not long after midday on Tuesday, sending people in restaurants and shops running into the streets of Port Vila.

The National Disaster Management office said in a report that 14 people had been confirmed dead and 200 treated for injuries, with the numbers expected to increase.

Of those killed, six died in a landslide, four at the Vila Central Hospital and four in the Billabong building, which collapsed in downtown Port Vila.

Two Chinese nationals were among the dead, Chinese Ambassador to Vanuatu Li Minggang told state media yesterday.

On Tuesday evening, Prime Minister Charlot Salwai declared a week-long state of emergency and set a curfew of 6 pm to 6 am.

Rescue efforts are focused on downtown Port Vila on the main island Efate, where the NDMO said at least 10 buildings, including one housing multiple diplomatic missions, suffered major structural damage.

Survivors trapped
Emergency teams worked through the night in a bid to find survivors trapped in the rubble, using heavy machinery such as excavators and cranes, along with shovels and hand grinders, videos posted to social media showed.

Two major commercial buildings, the Wong store and the Billabong shop, collapsed in the quake, according to Basil Leodoro, a surgeon and director of Helpr-1 Operations at Respond Global in Vanuatu.

“Vanuatu Mobile Force, ProRescue and ambulance teams are helping to remove casualties from the wreckage. So far they’ve been able to pull two,” said Leodoro in a social post yesterday morning, citing official reports.

“There are several others reported to be missing, still under the wreckage, coming to a total of about seven.”

People wounded in the disaster are being treated at two health facilities, the Vila Central Hospital and a second health clinic opened at the Vanuatu Mobile Force (VMF) base at Cooks Barracks, he said.

“From the initial reports at Vila Central Hospital, we know the hospital is overrun with casualties being brought in,” Leodoro said.

“The emergency team at the hospital have been working overnight to try to handle the number of casualties and walking wounded that are coming in, with triage being performed outside.”

“There are 14 confirmed deaths, and that number is likely to rise.”

‘Ring of Fire’
The United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs said in an update that there was damage to the hospital and the “operating theatre is non-functional, and overall healthcare capacity is overwhelmed.”

Vanuatu, an archipelago that straddles the seismically active Pacific “Ring of Fire,” is one of the most disaster-prone countries in the world and is frequently hit by cyclones, earthquakes and volcanic eruptions.

The UN agency estimated 116,000 people could be affected by this earthquake.

The government reported damage to power lines and water supplies in urban areas, while telecommunications were down, with Starlink providing the main form of connectivity to the outside world.

“Two major water reserves in the Ohlen area which supplies water to Port Vila are totally destroyed and will need reconstruction,” the NDMO said on Tuesday.

The Vanuatu Broadcasting and Television Corporation (VBTC) said in a statement that its facilities were damaged in the quake and it was operating only a limited radio service.

Australia, New Zealand and France said they had dispatched aid and emergency response teams to Vanuatu and were helping to assess the extent of damage.

Airport closed
Airports Vanuatu CEO Jason Rakau said the airport was closed for commercial airplanes for 72 hours to allow humanitarian flights to land, VBTC reported.

A post on X from France’s ambassador to Vanuatu, Jean-Baptiste Jeangène Vilmer, showed that three military engineers with satellite communications equipment had arrived by helicopter from the French territory of New Caledonia.

Aid supplies are already stationed in locations across Vanuatu as part of their disaster preparations, Katie Greenwood, head of the Pacific delegation at the Red Cross, said in another post to X.

Glen Craig, the chairman of the Vanuatu Business Resilience Council, said most damage was centered within 5km of Port Vila’s central business district.

“In terms of residential housing, it is far, far less significant than a cyclone,” he told BenarNews.

Most damage to businesses would be insurable, but of more concern would be a loss of income from tourism, he said.

“If tourists keep coming, we’re going to be okay,” he said. “If tourists just suddenly decide it’s all too hard, we’re in a bit of trouble.”

Vanuatu is home to about 300,000 on its 13 main islands and many smaller ones.

Its government declared a six-month national emergency early last year after it was hit by back-to-back tropical cyclones Judy and Kevin and a 6.5 magnitude earthquake within several days.

Republished from BenarNews with permission.

Article by AsiaPacificReport.nz

World Vision’s Vanuatu country director says electricity and water are still affected in the capital Port Vila and strategic bridges connecting the city are damaged, nearly 24 hours after a 7.3 earthquake just before 1pm on Tuesday afternoon.

The city has had multiple aftershocks since, with the strongest this morning reaching a magnitude 5.5.

At least 14 people are confirmed to have been killed and more than 200 people are injured.

World Vision’s Clement Chipokolo said the aftershocks are making everyone more vulnerable.

“We’re still out of electricity; we’re out of water as well and most of the stores are closed,” Chipokolo said.

“We have queues that are forming in the stores that are open for people to get essentials, especially water.”

He said the main priority is to recover those buried under rubble and recover bodies, while service providers were frantically trying to restore water and power.

He said the public was starting to come to grips with what had happened.

“I think we did not really gauge the scale of the impact yesterday, but now the public are sucking it in — how much we went through yesterday and by extension today.”

Vanuatu is one of the most natural disaster-prone countries in the world. It was hit by three severe tropical cyclones last year.

“We are a country that’s quite resilient to disasters but this was not a disaster that we anticipated or probably prepared for,” Chipokolo said.

However, he said the National Disaster Management Office (NDMO). which is the government arm that manages disasters, were on standby to support because of the cyclone season.

RNZ News also reports that help is slowly arriving, with incoming support from New Zealand, Australia and France. The airport in Port Vila is not operational other than for humanitarian assistance.

There are concerns about a lack of safe drinking water and Unicef Vanuatu Field Office Eric Durpaire told RNZ Midday Report there had been an increase in cases of diarrhoea.

Two Ministry of Foreign Affairs staff previously unaccounted for have been found safe.

This article is republished under a community partnership agreement with RNZ.

My friend Jamie just shared this video of the moment the earthquake struck his home. Amazing. pic.twitter.com/FaR24r2DeJ

— Dan McGarry (@VanuatuDan) December 18, 2024

Article by AsiaPacificReport.nz

Vanuatu is now in a state of emergency with at least 14 confirmed deaths following a 7.3 magnitude earthquake that struck the capital Port Vila yesterday, followed by
a 6.1 quake and other after shocks today.

According to the National Disaster Management Office (NDMO) in Vanuatu, more than 200 people were injured, with the numbers expected to rise.

The NDMO also reported that 10 buildings were damaged, included a building that housed the embassies of the United States and the United Kingdom, and the New Zealand High Commission.

The Joint Police Operation Centre is assisting with search and rescue operations, including the planned deployment of medical teams equipped with heavy machinery. Efforts to restore power and water supplies are also ongoing, the NDMO added.

Meanwhile, Fiji’s Prime Minister Sitiveni Rabuka said in a statement that his country stood ready to help in any way it could.

“I extend my sincere condolences to the families who have lost their loved ones, and I wish those injured a quick recovery,” said Rabuka.

Although Port Vila airport remained closed to commercial flights, aerial assessments were underway.

The Head of Delegation for the International Federation of Red Cross (IFRC) Pacific, Katie Greenwood, shared in a post on X that their Emergency Operations Centre was now active, with staff and volunteers working tirelessly to assist those affected by the earthquake.

The University of the South Pacific (USP) has also expressed its sympathies to Vanuatu.

In an advisory, USP stated that its Emalus Campus would remain closed, following advice from the Campus DISMAC Committee. The closure would enable essential teams to assess and repair damage while national authorities address public infrastructure concerns.

Rescue operation continue in Port Vila, Vanuatu (it is 3:45am)
3 people have been pulled out of rubble alive, with one of them in serious condition.
All the staff from American Embassy is safe. #earthquake #sismo #Vanuatu #terremoto pic.twitter.com/oDVUjvJYci

— Disasters Daily (@DisastersAndI) December 17, 2024

Personnel from the UN Children’s Fund (UNICEF) Pacific are on the ground in Vanuatu and are collaborating with the government, civil society organisations, and development partners to support immediate response efforts.

UNICEF, in a social media update, said it has already dispatched first aid kits and Interagency Emergency Health Kits (IEHK) to health facilities. It added that prepositioned supplies, including WASH, child protection, health, ECD, nutrition, and education kits, along with tents and first aid kits, are ready for distribution to reach at least 3000 people.

The UNICEF Vanuatu field office, comprising 19 staff and consultants, was working with local authorities and partners to assess the extent of the damage and determine response needs.

Published in partnership with the University of the South Pacific Journalism Programme’s Wansolwara News.

Article by AsiaPacificReport.nz

The death toll from Vanuatu’s 7.3 earthquake is expected to rise because concrete buildings have collapsed with people inside in the capital Port Vila.

International Federation of Red Cross Pacific head of delegation Katie Greenwood posted on X that the Vanuatu government was reporting 14 confirmed fatalities and 200 people were treated for injuries at the main hospital in Port Vila.

Rescue efforts to retrieve people trapped by fallen buildings and rubble have continued overnight.

Vanuatu Government is reporting 14 confirmed fatalities and 200 treated for injuries at main hospital in Port Vila. Local humanitarian network activated and @vanuaturedcross leads the Shelter response with Government and support from @ifrc

— Katie Greenwood (@KatiegIFRC) December 17, 2024

In a press conference, caretaker Vanuatu Prime Minister Charlot Salwai said a State of Emergency and curfew were in place in the worst affected areas.

“Urgently request international assistance,” he said.

The UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs estimated 116,000 people had been affected by the quake and earlier said there were six unconfirmed deaths.

Vanuatu has been experiencing aftershocks following Tuesday’s quake, the ABC reports.

The New Zealand High Commission was among buildings that have been damaged.

This article is republished under a community partnership agreement with RNZ.

Rescue operation continue in Port Vila, Vanuatu (it is 3:45am)
3 people have been pulled out of rubble alive, with one of them in serious condition.
All the staff from American Embassy is safe. #earthquake #sismo #Vanuatu #terremoto pic.twitter.com/oDVUjvJYci

— Disasters Daily (@DisastersAndI) December 17, 2024

Article by AsiaPacificReport.nz

A strong 7.3 magnitude earthquake struck off the coast of Vanuatu today, US geologists said, severely damaging a number of buildings in the capital, crushing cars and briefly triggering a tsunami warning.

Witnesses described a “violent shake” and widespread damage to Port Vila, located about 1900km northeast of the Australian city of Brisbane.

The Pacific island nation is ranked as one of the world’s most at-risk countries from natural disasters and extreme weather events, including cyclones and volcanic eruptions.

Michael Thompson, an adventure tour operator based in the capital, said the quake was “bigger than anything” he had felt in his 20 years living in Vanuatu.

“I was caught in the office with my colleague,” he told BenarNews. “When we came outside, it was just chaos everywhere. There have been a couple of buildings that have pancaked.

“You can hear noises and kind of muffled screams inside.”

Video footage taken by Thompson outside the US embassy showed the bottom floor of the building in downtown Port Vila had partially collapsed. Its windows are buckled and the foundations have been turned to rubble.

“It looks dangerous’
“We stood there yelling out to see if there was anyone inside the building,” Thompson said. “It looks really dangerous.”

The building also hosts the British, French and New Zealand missions.

Just down the main road from the embassy building, search and rescue teams were trying to force their way into a commercial building through the tin roof, Thompson said, but at the pace they were going it would be a “24 hour operation”.

Bottom line: It’s bad. People died, and many more were hurt. Some have lost their home, and many will find it hard to get back to work. Repairs will likely stretch for years, as they always do in the wake of disaster.

— Dan McGarry (@VanuatuDan) December 17, 2024

“We need help. We need medical evacuation and we need qualified rescue personnel. That’s the message,” he said.

The quake was recorded at a depth of 43km and centered 30km west of the capital Port-Vila, according to the US Geological Survey (USGS).

The US Tsunami Warning System cancelled an initial tsunami warning for coastal communities in Vanuatu within 300km of the epicenter.

The quake hit the island nation not long after midday, coming into peak tourist season, when the streets of Port Vila were packed with people shopping and eating in restaurants, Thompson said.

One dead body
He had seen at least one dead body among the rubble.

“The police are out trying to keep people back,” he said. “But it’s a pretty big situation here.”

In other videos posted online people can be seen running through the streets of the capital past shop fronts that had fallen onto cars. Elsewhere, a cliff behind the container port in Port Vila appears to have collapsed.

Dan McGarry, a Port Vila-based journalist, described the earthquake on social platform X as a “violent, high frequency vertical shake” that lasted about 30 seconds, adding the power was out around the city.

Vanuatu, home to about 300,000 on its 13 main islands and many smaller ones, is prone to earthquakes and volcanic eruptions because it straddles the seismically active Pacific “Ring of Fire.”

Vanuatu’s government declared a six-month national emergency early last year after it was hit by back-to-back tropical cyclones Judy and Kevin and a 6.5 magnitude earthquake within several days.

Republished from BenarNews with permission.

Article by AsiaPacificReport.nz

A large 7.3 magnitude earthquake has struck off the coast of Vanuatu’s capital Port Vila , shortly after 3pm NZT today.

The US Geological Survey says the quake was recorded at a depth of 10 km (6.21 miles).

Locals have been sharing footage of damage to infrastructure in Port Vila.

According to one post on Vanuatu Dialogue Live Facebook group, the building which is occupied by diplomatic embassies has suffered significant damage.

There are also reports of people trapped under buildings that have collapsed from the shake.

Buildings collapsed in Port Vila, Vanuatu after strong 7.4 earthquake.
Rescuers trying to reach trapped people. #earthquake #Vanuatu #terremoto #sismo pic.twitter.com/UCbRiW6bLb

— Disasters Daily (@DisastersAndI) December 17, 2024

Tsunami waves
The US Tsunami Warning Centre in Hawai’i said tsunami waves had been observed and were forecast for some coasts.

It expected tsunami waves reaching one meter to be possible for some coasts of Vanuatu.

The tsunami was expected to reach the Anatom Island and Esperitu Santo in Vanuatu.

Fiji, Kermadic Islands, Kiribati, New Caledonia, Papua New Guinea, Solomon Islands, Tuvalu and Wallis and Futuna faced a forecast for tsunami waves less than 30 cm high.

It said the coastal regions of Hawai’i, American Samoa, Guam and the CNMI should refer to Pacific Tsunami Warning Center messages.

Massive earthquake in Port Vila just now.

— Dan McGarry (@VanuatuDan) December 17, 2024

Massive landslides near our international shipping terminal. A lot of digging out ahead. This is going to impact our ability to respond. pic.twitter.com/dpgyK8tcpf

— Dan McGarry (@VanuatuDan) December 17, 2024

Video by Dan McGarry.

One News reports that the NZ High Commission building “sustained significant damage”.

New Zealand’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs said it had been in contact with the country’s High Commissioner Nicci Simmonds in Port Vila.

“Our High Commission building, which is co-located with the United States, the French and the United Kingdom, has sustained significant damage.

Footage posted to X shows damage to the High Commission building in Port Villa.

7.4 Earthquake damage in Vanuatu.
December 17, 2024 #earthquake #sismo #terremoto pic.twitter.com/8n6z0QEaQe

— Disasters Daily (@DisastersAndI) December 17, 2024

“We are in the process of contacting our staff to check they are safe.”

Forty five New Zealanders were registered on SafeTravel as being in Vanuatu. The ministry said it expected there would be more who were not registered.

This article is republished under a community partnership agreement with RNZ with additional information from Vanuatu journalist Dan McGarry’s news feed.

Article by AsiaPacificReport.nz

Sepik villagers hit by Papua New Guinea’s earthquake flooding are desperate for clean water, says local volunteer Charles Marlow

“Since the flood, the main Sepik River we have been drinking from is not safe anymore, evidence of faeces is seen floating on the water,” Marlow told the PNG Post-Courier.

“When the earthquake struck on Monday, most tanks of most houses in the Sepik River area burst.

“Right now, I can say people are going hungry, food has become scarce and we no longer have access to safer water source to drink from,” Marlow said in an interview.

“I live in Pagwi area. Today I went by boat to three nearby villages and returned. I spoke to the people and did my own assessment on the situation as a volunteer.

“People are in desperate need of food and drinking water.

“They cannot harvest sago or food from the gardens, everything has been destroyed by the high tide from the main Sepik River which has covered the nearby inlands where sago and other garden produce are harvested from.

Houses collapsed
“From Pagwi, I went to Savanaut then to Yenjimangua and Naurange villages.

“In Yenjimangua seven houses collapsed and in Niaurange eight houses altogether sank into the water.

“No casualty from the earthquake was reported from those three villages but there are deaths I heard in other villages I did not visit,” he said.

East Sepik Provincial Administrator Samson Torovi said the 28 local level governments in areas affected by flood have been allocated relief funding as of yesterday.

“The LLG presidents of our 28 local level governments have resolved to use the K200,000 (about NZ$88,000) provincial support to immediately supply food stuff, canvas and relief supplies to our people,” Torovi said.

“The East Sepik Provincial Disaster Management team will draw down on its internal revenue allocation of K200,000 in this year’s budget to commence mobilisation of relief work at the provincial level.”

Phoebe Gwangilo is a PNG Post-Courier reporter. Republished with with permission.

Article by AsiaPacificReport.nz