Earthquake in Vanuatu: 14 dead, hundreds injured and widespread destruction
Kyiv • UNN
A 7.3-magnitude earthquake in Vanuatu killed 14 people and injured 200. Embassy buildings were damaged, electricity was cut off, and a state of emergency was declared for 7 days.
The death toll from the earthquake that struck Vanuatu on Tuesday has reached 14 people, while search teams are wading through piles of rubble in an attempt to find survivors, UNN reports citing the BBC.
Details
Two hundred other people are being treated for injuries, while powerful aftershocks from the 7.3 magnitude earthquake are reported throughout the night.
The earthquake damaged buildings, including the embassies of the United States, France, the United Kingdom, and New Zealand. It also led to power and mobile phone outages.
The Vanuatu police report that a state of emergency has been declared for seven days to restrict the movement of the population while search and rescue operations are underway.
The government reported that four people died in a hospital in the capital, Port Vila. Six were killed by a landslide and four by a building collapse, where the death toll is expected to rise.
Two of the dead were Chinese citizens, Chinese Ambassador to Vanuatu Li Minggang told state media.
The UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs estimates that 116,000 people may be affected by the worst effects of the earthquake.
Neighboring Australia will send teams to assist in search and rescue efforts, Deputy Prime Minister Richard Marles told ABC News on Wednesday. The United States and France have also pledged to provide assistance.
Photos posted by Vanuatu police on Facebook show rescuers manually sifting through the rubble and crawling under the floors of collapsed buildings.
According to the government's disaster management office, at least 10 buildings in Port Vila have sustained "severe structural damage.
Rescuers heard the voices of at least three people from the rubble of one three-story building, Vanuatu resident Michael Thompson told AFP news agency.
Thompson said that rescuers used "whatever was at hand," including jackhammers, grinders, and concrete saws, to save people.
Images from the state broadcaster VBTC show that many businesses in Port Vila were closed on Wednesday, with garbage lying on the sidewalks and some roads cracked.
Some people were looking for basic necessities.
Addendum
The earthquake struck on Tuesday at 12:47 local time (1:47 GMT) and triggered a short-term tsunami warning.
Vanuatu, a low-lying archipelago of about 80 islands in the South Pacific Ocean, is located west of Fiji and thousands of kilometers east of northern Australia.
The country is located in a seismically active zone and is prone to frequent major earthquakes and other natural disasters.
