WELLINGTON: An earthquake of magnitude 7.4 struck Vanuatu’s capital Port Vila on Tuesday, killing at least six people and damaging two reservoirs and a hospital, according to local media and the United Nations.

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

On Tuesday evening, the caretaker prime minister, Charlot Salwai, declared a state of emergency and said a curfew would be imposed for seven days in the worst affected areas. International assistance had been requested.

It was a “sad and devastating time” in Port Vila, he said, expressing sympathy to families who had lost loved ones. An official at Port Vila’s hospital told VBTC that six people had died and more than 50 were injured.

Rescue efforts to find people trapped in collapsed buildings continued in the evening, a police official told local media.

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

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

Port Vila’s international airport was closed, Vanuatu’s High Commission in Canberra said. The UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs estimated 116,000 people had been affected by the earthquake. It said there were six unconfirmed deaths and damage to the two main water reservoirs.

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

Authorities were unable to communicate with the National Disaster Management Office until Tuesday evening, when Starlink satellite services were provided, it said. Fiji Prime Minister Sitiveni Rabuka said on Facebook he was “saddened by the news of the earthquake which has claimed lives and devastated families in Vanuatu”.

Commonwealth Secretary General Patricia Scotland said on X many people had been injured and infrastructure had been destroyed. Security camera footage from the moment the quake struck showed people scattering in panic in a garage and cars rocking on the ground.

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

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

Published in Dawn, December 18th, 2024