Massive earthquake of Magnitude 7.3 hits Vanuatu, deaths feared

A massive earthquake of magnitude of 7.3 struck the coast of Vanuatu, an island country in the South Pacific Ocean, leaving several buildings damaged along with witnesses claiming to have seen ‘bodies’ lying on streets .

The major city of the island country, Port Vila, was 30 kilometres (10 miles) west of the epicentre of the 57-kilometer (35-mile) deep earthquake.

A tsunami warning was issued after the earthquake, with waves of up to one metre (three feet) forecast for some areas of Vanuatu, but the alert was soon lifted by the Pacific Tsunami Warning Center.

In the wake of the earthquake, Vanuatu official websites were down, and phone lines for the police and other government offices did not connect. However, it was not immediately apparent if this resulted in any damage. Neither the prime minister’s office nor the nation’s geohazards agency have updated their social media accounts.

Bodies lying on street

After the powerful earthquake, witnesses reportedly saw bodies lying in the street. The ground floor of a building housing the US and French embassies had been crushed under higher floors, resident Michael Thompson told news agency AFP by satellite phone after posting images of the destruction on social media.

“There’s people in the buildings in town. There were bodies there when we walked past,” the news agency quoted Thompson as saying.

A landslide on one road had covered a bus, he said, “adding that there is ”obviously some deaths there”.

The quake also collapsed at least two bridges, said Thompson, who runs a zipline business in Vanuatu, and the ground floor of a concrete building housing diplomatic missions had been flattened.

“That no longer exists. It is just completely flat. The top three floors are still holding but they have dropped,” he said.

Fidel Zebeta of the Vanuatu National Disaster Management Office reported Tuesday afternoon that the country was experiencing aftershocks of magnitude 5.5 from the same spot.

He advised residents in coastal communities to move to higher land.

According to Zebeta, the “system” of the Vanuatu Geohazards Agency was operational again after the earthquake and will provide updates.

“Precautionary message going out to everyone, please move out from coastal areas to higher ground.”

Michael Thompson, a local who shared pictures of the damage on social media, told AFP via satellite phone that the lowest level of a building that housed the US and French embassies had been crushed beneath upper stories.

“There’s people in the buildings in town. There were bodies there when we walked past,” Thompson said. “There’s obviously some deaths there,” he remarked, referring to a bus that was covered by a landslip on one road.

According to Thompson, who owns a zipline company in Vanuatu, the earthquake also destroyed at least two bridges and demolished the ground floor of a concrete structure that houses diplomatic offices.

“That no longer exists. It is just completely flat. The top three floors are still holding but they have dropped. They’re just cracking on with a rescue operation. The support we need from overseas is medical evacuation and skilled rescue, kind of people that can operate in earthquakes,” he said.

“If there was anyone in there at the time, then they’re gone,” he said.

Thompson shared a video, which AFP confirmed, showing emergency vehicles and uniformed rescuers repairing a structure with an exterior roof that had collapsed onto many parked cars and trucks.

The video showed the city’s streets littered with shattered glass and other debris from buildings that had been destroyed.

A video shared on X showed considerable structural damage, including bowed windows and debris that had fallen from walls to the ground, to a building that houses diplomatic missions to Vanuatu, including those of Britain, France, and New Zealand.

Cars buried beneath buildings shook by the earthquake have been tweeted.

“The USGS warned of tsunami waves for some coasts on Vanuatu, a group of 80 islands that is home to about 330,000 people. Waves could reach 0.3 meters to 1 meter (1 to 3 feet) above the tide level,” as reported by the Assosiated Press.

The low-lying atoll nation has several islands that are three feet above sea level.

Additionally, the USGS issued warnings for many neighbouring Pacific Island nations, including as Solomon Islands, Fiji, and Papua New Guinea, for tsunami waves that would register less than 0.3 meters (1 foot) above the tide level.

Authorities in the Pacific Ocean nations of Australia and New Zealand have affirmed that their nations are not at risk of tsunamis.

The Australian government is aware of the ‘significant earthquake’ in Vanuatu, according to Treasurer Jim Chalmers, and his sympathies are with the people of that country.

The Foreign Ministry of New Zealand stated that 37 New Zealanders were listed as residents of Vanuatu, although it did not elaborate on their status.

The low-lying archipelago of Vanuatu, home to 320,000 people, is situated along the seismic Ring of Fire, an arc of high tectonic activity that runs across the Pacific basin and across Southeast Asia. As such, earthquakes are prevalent there.

When it comes to earthquakes, storm damage, flooding, and tsunamis, Vanuatu is among the nations most vulnerable, according to the annual World Risk Report.