A powerful earthquake, possibly the strongest in years, has devastated the island nation of Vanuatu. The 7.3-magnitude jolt rocked the region on Tuesday sending tremors through homes, businesses and critical infrastructure.
Witnesses described buildings collapsing, roads blocked by landslides and hospitals stretched thin as reports of injuries — and unconfirmed casualties — surfaced.
The quake, centered 18 miles west of the capital Port Vila, triggered a tsunami warning that was listed hours later, but the damage was far from over.
Power outages and severed communications have made assessing the full extent of the destruction difficult leaving residents in a state of fear and uncertainty as aftershocks continue to rumble through the region.
Dan McGarry, a journalist based in Port Vila, told The Associated Press he heard of one death from a police officer outside Vila Central Hospital. McGarry saw three people on gurneys “in obvious distress,” he said.
Doctors were working “as fast as they could” at a triage center outside the emergency ward, he added. But the nation is not equipped for a mass casualty event, McGarry said.
Video shared by the Vanuatu Broadcasting and Television Corporation showed crowds outside the hospital. Phone numbers for the police, the hospital and other public agencies did not connect.
A video posted on social media appeared to show crumpled buildings in Port Vila, including one that had collapsed onto its lower floors and cars parked on the street below.
Amanda Laithwaite said her husband was among a group of rescuers attempting to shift the roof of the three-story building because they believed people were trapped inside, but their progress was slow without specialist machinery.
Elsewhere, a building housing a number of diplomatic missions in Port Vila — including those of the United States, Britain, France and New Zealand — was significantly damaged, several of its tenants said. But there were no reports of embassy staff unaccounted for.
The U.S. Embassy’s Facebook page said all staff were safe, but the building was closed until further notice. The office had only opened in July, as part of a wider push by the U.S. to expand its Pacific presence in order to counter China’s burgeoning influence on governments in the region.
Australia’s foreign ministry also said its workers were safe.
A video on social media showed the building with some damage to its structure, including buckled windows and debris that had crumbled from walls to the ground. Other photos and videos showed items and shelves that had tumbled to the floors of shops and landslides that appeared to block some roads.
“We haven’t heard at the moment about any casualties, but I will be shocked if we don’t hear that bad news coming through from Port Vila at some point,” Katie Greenwood, the Fiji-based head of the Asia-Pacific regional office for the Red Cross, told the Australian Broadcasting Corp.
McGarry said a “massive landslide” at the international shipping terminal was likely to impede the country’s recovery. The airport’s runway is also damaged, he said.
Port Vila’s airport could not be contacted on Tuesday, but flight tracking sites suggested all flights were grounded. Some airlines in Australia and the Pacific said they had canceled or paused flights scheduled for Wednesday and were awaiting news of the airport’s status.
