Earthquake rocks Pacific island nation of Vanuatu, deaths feared, U.S. embassy damaged

[ad_1] Wellington, New Zealand — Injured individuals had been arriving at a hospital in Vanuatu as unconfirmed studies of casualties emerged after the South Pacific island nation was rocked by a strong magnitude 7.3 earthquake that struck simply off the coast on Tuesday.

A tsunami warning was referred to as off lower than two hours after the quake. With communications nonetheless down hours after the jolt and official data scarce, witness accounts of casualties started to floor on social media and thru patchy telephone calls.

The quake occurred at a depth of 35 miles and was centered 18 miles west of Port Vila, the most important metropolis in Vanuatu, a gaggle of 80 islands that's dwelling to about 330,000 individuals. The jolt was adopted by a magnitude 5.5 aftershock close to the identical location.

It wasn't instantly clear how a lot injury was triggered as telephone traces and authorities web sites remained down and official channels hadn't been up to date, however studies of widespread destruction filtered out on social media and in interviews.

Rescue employees are seen on the website of a collapsed constructing after a strong earthquake struck Port Vila, the capital metropolis of Vanuatu, on December 17, 2024. STR / AFP through Getty Pictures

Dan McGarry, a journalist based mostly in Port Vila, advised The Related Press he heard of 1 loss of life within the quake from a police officer outdoors Vila Central Hospital. McGarry noticed three individuals on gurneys "in apparent misery," he mentioned.

Medical doctors had been working "as quick as they might" at a triage middle outdoors the emergency ward, he added. However the nation is not outfitted for a mass casualty occasion, McGarry mentioned.

Video shared by the Vanuatu Broadcasting and Tv Company confirmed crowds outdoors the hospital. Cellphone numbers for the police, the hospital and different public businesses did not join. There have been no official studies of casualties.

Studies of individuals trapped inside buildings additionally could not be confirmed.

A video posted on social media appeared to indicate crumpled buildings in Port Vila, together with one which had collapsed onto automobiles. A Pink Cross spokesperson in Fiji mentioned the top of the help company's Vanuatu workplace had reported widespread injury earlier than communications had been minimize off.

A four-story constructing housing a lot of embassies in Port Vila - together with these of the USA, Britain, France and New Zealand - was considerably broken, New Zealand's International Ministry mentioned.

A video posted on social media confirmed the constructing with some injury, together with buckled home windows and particles that had crumbled from partitions to the bottom. Different photographs and movies confirmed objects and cabinets that had tumbled to the flooring of retailers and landslides that appeared to dam some roads.

Agence France-Presse mentioned its photographs confirmed the bottom flooring of the constructing utterly flattened.

This picture exhibits a normal view of a severely broken constructing housing the embassies of the USA, Britain, France and New Zealand after a strong earthquake struck Port Vila, the capital metropolis of Vanuatu, on December 17, 2024. STR / AFP through Getty Pictures

The underside flooring "not exists," Vanuatu resident Michael Thompson advised AFP by satellite tv for pc telephone after posting photographs of the destruction on social media. "It's simply utterly flat. The highest three flooring are nonetheless holding however they've dropped."

However AFP studies that the U.S. Embassy in Papua New Guinea mentioned all employees members within the U.S. Embassy in Vanuatu are "protected and accounted for."

"Whereas the U.S. Embassy constructing sustained vital injury, all personnel had been in a position to safely evacuate the constructing," it mentioned in an announcement on social media, including that the embassy can be closed till additional discover.

Katie Greenwood, the Fiji-based head of the Asia-Pacific regional workplace for the Pink Cross, advised the Australian Broadcasting Corp. that the downtown space of Port Vila was full of huge buildings and resorts.

"We've not heard in the intervening time about any casualties, however I shall be shocked if we do not hear that unhealthy information coming by means of from Port Vila in some unspecified time in the future," she mentioned.

McGarry mentioned a "huge landslide" on the worldwide delivery terminal was more likely to impede the nation's restoration. The airport's runway can be broken, he mentioned.

Vanuatu's place on a subduction zone - the place the Indo-Australia tectonic plate strikes beneath the Pacific Plate - means earthquakes of magnitudes higher than 6 aren't unusual, and the nation's buildings are supposed to face up to quake injury.

"I believe it might have been worse," McGarry mentioned. However this was probably the most critical he had skilled throughout 21 years in Vanuatu "by an extended shot," he mentioned.

Within the hours after the temblor, the USGS mentioned a tsunami menace had handed. The company had earlier warned of waves of as much as 3 ft above the tide degree.

Authorities in Australia and New Zealand, each situated within the Pacific Ocean, mentioned there was no tsunami menace to their international locations.