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

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

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

People in Vanuatu remain optimistic about their future after two destructive cyclones in two days left parts of the Pacific nation in ruins.

Authorities are yet to determine the full scale of the damage caused by the back-to-back severe tropical cyclones Judy and Kevin.

But those who had to endure the worst of the natural disasters last week believe demonstrating resilience is their only option.

“To have had two category four cyclones in less than a week is history in itself,” Vanuatu’s only female Member of Parliament, Gloria Julia King, told RNZ Pacific.

“[It’s] something that even the elders in our families haven’t seen before.”

She said her island nation has had its fair share of severe weather events, highlighting the destruction caused by Cyclone Pam in 2015 from which the country has still not fully recovered.

“A lot of our schools are still in makeshift classrooms, [children] still sitting on the floor without desks and chairs.”

Hopeful over challenges
But she is hopeful that the ni-Vanuatu people will get through the challenges in front of them.

“I have seen Vanuatu come back from Pam, I’ve seen Vanuatu come back from Harold, and I am positive Vanuatu will be able to bounce back from Kevin,” King said.

The country was hit by a category 4 TC Judy first on March 3, but just as people started to pick up the pieces, they had to rush to evacuation centres the following day as Kevin arrived as a category 3, intensifying to a category 4 and then reaching 5 over open water.

“People [were] carrying people with disabilities on their back to an evacuation building,” Greenpeace Australia Pacific’s advisor Shiva Gounden, who is in the capital Port Vila, said.

He said three to four families huddled in homes while properties around them were being wiped out.

“Roads are completely blocked or flooded. There’s no access for anyone to leave the village for any type of emergencies.”

‘No power, no water’
“There’s no power. There’s no water,” he added.

Gounden was in a village on Efate island helping people prepare for TC Kevin when it hit with a force much more violent than anyone was prepared for, he told RNZ Pacific.

He had to hold the doors of the house he was residing in for almost 10 hours in shin high water to remain safe.

“It was extremely strong,” he said, describing Kevin’s ferocity.

“I’ve seen and responded to several cyclones in my life and I felt Kevin was as strong as Cyclone Winston which wiped out Fiji.”

“I was trying to hold my door from 5pm till about 3am. I was using all my [strength] with my hands and my back and my legs to try and hold the door because if I didn’t, it would snap. There was water everywhere,” he said.

‘It’s a tough go for many’, says Vanuatu journalist
Vanuatu journalist Dan McGarry, who has been on the frontlines documenting the disaster, visited vulnerable communities in the aftermath.

Taila Moses and her son Tom stand in front of what was once their home of 16 years. Countless houses in informal communities such as hers were damaged or destroyed. Cyclones dole put their damage indiscriminately, but society’s most vulnerable feel it more than anyone else. pic.twitter.com/cXBDuznMTz

— Dan McGarry (@dailypostdan) March 5, 2023

He said people were living in “impromptu housing” in various parts of Port Vila.

“What I found was quite disturbing,” he said.

“It’s becoming obvious that the increasing reliance on a cash economy is creating inequalities in terms of people’s ability to cope with this kind of disaster cycle.”

McGarry said informal settlements up on the hillside in the capital were covered with clothing lines because everything had been soaked.

“There were tarpaulins pulled across roofs to provide some sort of temporary shelter.”

He has spoken with several residents and shared the story of one woman who has lost everything.

“She has no livelihood at the moment because her employer, of course, isn’t calling her into work,” he said.

“She’s lost everything and she is without the means to return it. It’s a tough, tough go for a great many people here in Port Vila,” he explained.

Climate crisis issue
Climate crisis is front of mind for Ni-Vanuatu residents as they start to rebuild.

“[Climate change] turns what used to be sort of periodical issues for Pacific island nations into chronic ones,” he said.

“In this case, we’ve had two severe cyclones in the course of a week an as New Zealanders have seen these weather systems are moving further south.”

He believes development partners of the Pacific cannot afford to walk away; a sentiment echoed by Gounden.

“We have the most resilient people, but there is a deep hurt that is within us,” Gounden said.

He said the “the hurt” stems from fossil fuels being burned across the world which exacerbates climate change.

“The people of the Pacific contribute the least to climate change, yet we face the greatest consequences of it all.”

“The biggest thing we can do is pressure world leaders right now to phase out [the use of fossil fuels.”

Meanwhile, Australia, France and New Zealand have been the first to send support to assist with emergency response.

“We will appreciate any help we can get,” King said.

“The biggest challenge now is just getting power and water back into full circuit around the country.”

Taking off for Vanuatu with assistance following TC Judy & TC Kevin. Australia has a rapid assessment team in Vanuatu & is delivering shelters & other items for communities.

We stand with the Pacific family #YugetaYumiStrong pic.twitter.com/IGYVrchew9

— Pat Conroy MP (@PatConroy1) March 5, 2023

Article by AsiaPacificReport.nz

Vanuatu has been under a state of emergency, after two earthquakes and two cyclones hit in as many days, reports ABC News.

Hundreds of people remained in emergency evacuation centres in the capital Port Vila as Tropical Cyclone Kevin brought destructive winds and heavy rainfall.

The Fiji Meteorology Service said wind gusts reached up to 230km an hour in the early morning hours on Saturday.

No casualties were immediately reported but a number of properties were flattened and many homes and businesses reported power outages, said ABC.

The cyclone built to a category four on Saturday as it passed the capital and travelled south-east.

Port Vila-based journalist Dan McGarry tweeted updates as both cyclones hit.

“Port Vila has properly woken up now. Fuel is in short supply, power is out everywhere, and a boil-water order is in effect,” he tweeted early on Saturday.

“Lots of people at the few hardware stores that were able to open. Some with rather disturbing stories.”

The country’s main newspaper, Vanuatu Daily Post, did not publish on Saturday due to the cyclone, but will publish a special edition tomorrow.

Journalist Witnol Benko has forwarded what might be the first images from the southern island of Erromango. Doesn’t look good. pic.twitter.com/c8SIA1jTL4

— Dan McGarry (@dailypostdan) March 5, 2023

Article by AsiaPacificReport.nz

Ni-Vanuatu residents have emerged battered but still standing after Cyclone Kevin swiped the country with a strong backhand.

“It was quite exhausting. Dealing with two cyclones in three days is pretty draining, you know,” Vanuatu journalist Dan McGarry told RNZ Pacific.

He said the gale-force winds have been rough. He woke early on Saturday morning to try and get a sense of the extent of the damage.

He went outside in the dark to charge his phone, and when the sun came up it was a real eyesore.

“Our own laneway is blocked off. We’ve got tree limbs all the way up and down,” he said.

After clearing the way, he was able to get out and about and have a look around.

Port Vila had been badly knocked about. McGarry came across a mango tree that landed directly on top of a minibus.

“And then the wind lifted the entire tree and dumped it a metre-and-a-half away,” he said.

Fuel was in short supply and a boil water order was in effect, McGarry said.

Many people were at the few hardware stores that were open, trying to buy tools to repair their properties, he said.

On Saturday evening, the Fiji Meteorological Office said the severe tropical storm remained a category five, and was centred in the ocean near Conway Reef.

Tafea province in Vanuatu, which was under a red alert as Kevin tracked south-east, had been given the all clear.

An Australian Air Force reconnaissance flight over Tafea province was reported to have shown some intact settlements and still some greenery.

🌀 Kevin s’approche de Port-Vila pic.twitter.com/yFiynj6X7j

— Jean-Baptiste Jeangène Vilmer (@jeangene_vilmer) March 3, 2023

No casualties had been immediately reported but hundreds of people fled to evacuation centres in the capital Port Vila, where Kevin blasted through as a category four storm.

Foreign aid needed
Vanuatu needs support from its international partners.

“There is going to be a significant need — this is not something Vanuatu can do alone, so the assistance of these partners is going to be critical to a speedy and effective response,” McGarry said.

He believed cooperation from donor partners was needed. France has already received a request to send a patrol plane, he said.

“I expect that New Zealand would be putting a P3 in the air before very long. Australia has already committed to sending a rapid assessment team.”

Stephen Meke, tropical cyclone forecaster with the Fiji Meteorological Service, said cyclone response teams and aid workers wanting to help should plan to travel to Vanuatu from Sunday onwards, as the weather system is forecast to lose momentum then.

“Kevin intensified into a category four system,” Meke said. “It was very close to just passing over Tanna. So it’s expected to continue diving southeastwards as a category four, then the weakening from from tomorrow onwards.”

A UNICEF spokesperson said its team was preparing to ship essential emergency supplies from Fiji in addition to emergency supplies already prepositioned in Vanuatu.

“These include tents, tarpaulins, education, and health supplies to support immediate response needs in the aftermath of the two devastating cyclones.”

New Zealand’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs said it was working with the Vanuatu government and partners to see what help it could offer.

An MFAT spokesperson said New Zealand had first-hand experience of the challenges Vanuatu faced in the coming days and weeks. It had been challenging making contact with people because of damaged communications systems, they said.

Sixty-three New Zealanders are registered on the SafeTravel website as being in Vanuatu.

Parts of Vanuatu have plunged into a six-month-long state of emergency.

Evacuations in Port Vila
The Fiji Meteorological Office said Port Vila experienced the full force of Kevin’s winds. Evacuations took place in the capital.

McGarry said he knew of one family that had to escape their property and shelter at a separate home.

“The entire group spent the entire night standing in the middle of the room because the place is just drenched with water.

“So it’s been an uncomfortable night for many, and possibly quite a dangerous one for some.”

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

pic.twitter.com/Pj7iIHeubW

— Dan McGarry (@dailypostdan) March 3, 2023

Article by AsiaPacificReport.nz

Forty nine regional and international observers have arrived in Vanuatu to monitor the running of the country’s snap election tomorrow.

The election was triggered after the dissolution of the country’s Parliament on August 19 by President Nikenike Vurobaravu, and on the eve of a motion of no-confidence against the now caretaker prime minister Bob Loughman.

More than 300,000 people are expected to cast their vote in the snap election.

The Chairman of the Electoral Commission, Edward Kaltamat, has confirmed observers from Australia, China, Fiji, France, Kiribati, Melanesian Spearhead Group Secretariat, New Zealand, Pacific Islands Forum, United Kingdom and the United Nations are in the country.

Kaltamat said their presence will provide confidence to the voters on the transparency and credibility of the election.

The 49 observers have signed their code of conduct to guide them while they are in the field.

Kaltamat said some of them would stay in the capital to monitor the elections in Port Vila and the Efate constituency, and some would be deployed in the islands.

He said the observers will be briefed before being sent to the islands by aircraft.

This is not the first time that international observers have monitored an election in Vanuatu.

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

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Scores of homes near the Vanuatu capital Port Vila which were deemed illegal dwellings have been destroyed following a court-ordered eviction.

Residents have told media they burned down their own homes rather than allow the police to do so.

The sheriff of the court, who was with the police to enforce the eviction order, said that more than 400 people were forced to move from the area, about 10 minutes drive from Port Vila, because they were illegally squatting.

The Sheriff said they were ordered by the court to vacate the area in May 2021 but they did not follow the order, and therefore police had to use two 5-tonne loaders to destroy the homes and fruit trees.

A mother said she did not want to see her home destroyed by the heavy machines so she burnt it down.

They also destroyed their church house for the same reason, she said.

Long-standing relationship turned on its head
Another squatter, Mary Maung, told media she was the first to settle in the land after she was given permission from the paramount chief of Mele, Chief Momo Masai.

She gave food to Chief Masai each year for allowing her to live on his land, she said.

Maung said the relationship changed under the new chief, Simeon Poilapa.

She said she and three other mothers had already deposited 100,000 vatu (NZ$1400) to buy the land where she built her home to Dataka Holding Ltd, which is owned by Chief Poilapa.

The Vanuatu Lands Department said the area was already subdivided but the squatters settled there illegally.

Some of the displaced residents have moved in with relatives in Mele, Teouma, Erakor and other parts of Efate.

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

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A VT2 billion grant from the World Bank Group is set to reform unplanned urban settlements in Vanuatu and effectively improve the standard of living for many families.

It comes after the recent launching of the Vanuatu Affordable and Resilient Settlement (VARS) Project by the Vanuatu government and World Bank.

The project is the first of its kind in the Pacific region and the total cost is less than a VT3 billion grant. The money will cover unplanned urban settlements, particularly 23 unplanned settlements identified by Vanuatu authorities.

Ministry of Lands director-general Henry Vira has welcomed the assistance from World Bank.

“Vanuatu is exposed to multiple natural hazards, rapid urban growth rates, serviced land provision is slow, costly, and limited to high income groups, and low-and middle-income earners move into unplanned settlements in high hazard risk land with limited land registration and services leading to low quality of living environments high incidences of preventable diseases, and low-quality housing stock and increasing disaster risk in the settlements,” Vira said.

In 2016, the Vanuatu government requested assistance from the World Bank Group to address the growing problem of squatters in various disaster risk prone areas of Port Vila, he said.

There were two key questions for the technical assistance to focus on under the VARS, which are the future residential land and housing needs for low-and-middle income earners, and where and how the needs can be met given constraints of affordability and natural hazard risk.

The second is how the government can lead and enable activities and resources of public and private stakeholders to meet urban expansion needs, guide future development, and contribute to national economic growth and prosperity.

Main economic hub
Vira said the capital city Port Vila was the government’s and the country’s main economic hub, accounting for an estimated 65 percent of GDP.

“The city has an estimated population of 66,000 people living within the municipal boundaries. The municipal area plus surrounding peri-urban settlements with strong economic and social connectivity to the city center is home to closer to 114,000 people, almost 40 percent of the nation’s population,” he said.

“In-migration from other islands accounts for most of the urban growth of 60 percent, with the remaining 40 percent from natural growth of the working age urban population.

“Urban-rural income differentials and rural underemployment are key drivers for people moving to Port Vila and smaller towns such as Luganville, in search of employment, better wages, health services, and education opportunities.”

Vira said the pace of urbanisation limited institutional capacity, and resource constraints have impacted the quality and resilience of urban settlements in greater Port Vila and development over the past decades had largely been unplanned and unregulated, resulting in the emergence of 23 informal settlements within the municipality and adjacent peri-urban areas of SHEFA Province.

He said people and assets were increasingly locating in marginalised and hazard-prone areas, including floodplains, steep hillsides susceptible to landslides, and coastal areas exposed to tsunamis and inundation.

“Households living in unplanned settlements with insecure tenure are reluctant to invest in resilient structures, increasing their vulnerability,” Vira said.

Two priority approaches
The VARS project embraces two priority approaches: retrofitting existing settlements through upgrading to improve services and resilience and developing new models for planned and serviced urban expansion.

Resident Representative of World Bank for Vanuatu and Solomon Islands Annette Leith said Vanuatu was one of the most highly prone and vulnerable countries in the world to natural disasters.

“The rapid pace of urbanisation and the growth of unplanned settlements adds a new dimension to this challenge,” Leith said.

“I applaud the government and the people of Vanuatu for the many steps taken to build resilience through policies, investments, strengthening of institutions and building capacity at the national, provincial and community levels.

“I am pleased that the VARS Project will provide financial and technical resource to help implement some of these policies and provide resilient investments. This is an exciting project being led by the Vanuatu government in partnership and with support from the World Bank.”

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

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The president of the United Liberation Movement of West Papua, Benny Wenda, has arrived to a warm welcome in Port Vila from London where he is based.

Representatives of the Vanuatu West Papua Independence Committee, who are organising his trip, made sure the media was present only during a welcome ceremony at the Shefa provincial government headquarters.

Shefa province has adopted the people of the United Liberation Movement for West Papua (ULMWP) as “brothers and sisters of Vanuatu”.

The movement’s Morning Star flag is flown alongside the Shefa provincial flag at its Headquarters in Port Vila.

It is not clear if Wenda will meet government leaders.

He will be in Port Vila for two weeks.

Vanuatu has donated a plot of land along with office facilities for use by ULMWP as its international office in Port Vila.

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

Article by AsiaPacificReport.nz

BRIEFING: By Dan McGarry in Port Vila

The “news” this week that Vanuatu was to be the site of a Chinese military base caught most people by surprise. Government officials with detailed knowledge of relevant matters swore hand on heart they’d never even heard hints of such talk.

Minister of Foreign Affairs Ralph Regenvanu questioned the sourcing of the report, telling the Radio Australia’s Pacific Beat radio programme, “I’m not very happy about the standard of reporting in the Australia media”.

Chinese embassy officials in Vanuatu declined an interview request, stating, “The report is groundless and not worth any comment at all.”

READ MORE: Vanuatu rejects ‘speculative’ base claim

The topic has quickly become the loudest non-conversation in town.

Tacitly at least, officials from all nations recognise Vanuatu’s strategic importance.

A Chinese sailor raises the red flag on the prow of a PLA Navy frigate during a visit to Vanuatu. Image: Dan McGarry/Vanuatu Daily Post

-Partners-

Luganville, on the island of Espiritu Santo, was the site of one of the largest military bases in the entire Pacific Theatre during WWII.

Home to about 100,000 personnel at its peak, it saw nearly one million service people pass through before it was decommissioned in 1946.

Controlling air, sea
What was true in the 1940s remains true today: Whoever controls Vanuatu controls air and sea traffic between the United States and Australia. Right now, that’s the government of Vanuatu.

For more than a decade, this tiny island nation has leveraged regional rivalries to drive infrastructure development. Its dalliances with China, for example, resulted in a US$20 million investment by telecoms giant Huawei in an island-hopping communications network.

That move is said by some to have motivated a multimillion-dollar commitment from Australia to fund telecoms regulation and management.

For years, western nations were simply not interested in big-ticket, high-risk projects. Infrastructure projects worldwide are fraught with budget overruns, scope creep and delays. Risk-averse donors therefore shied away.

But not China.

Largely on the back of questionably “concessional” loans from the China EXIM Bank, contractors secured a mixed bag of infrastructure projects, ranging from roads to wharves to buildings. They include sport facilities, a convention centre and a school.

But the most noticeable project was a US$90 million wharf project in Luganville. Almost from the outset, people raised the spectre of the old American base there.

Revived interest
Many Pacific watchers think there’s no coincidence to a recently revived interest from the Asian Development Bank, the World Bank and other funding bodies in Pacific islands infrastructure.

At the same time as the Luganville wharf was being constructed, Japan was also demonstrating its friendship to Vanuatu by building a major wharf facility in Port Vila, the capital. The US$70 million project came at much more favourable terms.

Australia meanwhile signed on to a US$30 million urban infrastructure development project in the capital. The World Bank has already committed $60 million to the nation’s airports, and is reportedly considering upping the ante to $150 million.

Despite the fact that Australia remains the largest donor in Vanuatu and the Pacific, analysts suggest that China has stolen a march on them by ingratiating themselves with politicians who see infrastructure projects as vote-getters.

An artist’s view of the completed Luganville wharf … source of the “base” controversy. Image: Shanghai Construction Group/VDP

Lacking coherence
It is widely felt that Chinese engagement lacks coherence, and that the quality of its work is variable, to be generous. But nobody doubts its popularity with the political elite here, and that is something that should cause concern in Canberra.

Locally, engagement between Australian development workers and their government counterparts is excellent. But communication between Pacific capitals and Canberra is sadly lacking.

Ill-considered stories such as the recent Fairfax article, or Senator Fierravanti-Wells’ January diatribe about Chinese “roads going nowhere” play poorly in the Pacific. They only offer China an opportunity to commiserate with local officials, and to go on quietly building roads and wharves.

Dan McGarry is media director of the Vanuatu Daily Post group. This article is republished with permission.

Article by AsiaPacificReport.nz