Rescuers race to find survivors of the Vanuatu earthquake

Rescuers in Vanuatu are racing to find survivors trapped in buildings, one day after a drowning 7.3 magnitude earthquake Hit the capital, Port Vila, killing 14 people.

At least 200 people were injured in Tuesday's quake, with many victims concentrated around a few buildings in the city centre.

One witness, who was in Vanuatu's tallest building when the quake struck, told the BBC that he and his wife “ran quickly” outside, adding: “If it had continued for another 10 seconds, I wouldn't be talking to you today.” “.

Police said that a state of emergency had been declared for seven days to limit public movement while rescue operations were underway.

Glen Craig, chair of the Vanuatu Business Resilience Council, told the BBC he was in “good spirits” and enjoying Christmas celebrations with his wife on Tuesday when the quake struck – taking them completely by surprise.

“We (in Vanuatu) are used to disasters… You can usually hear earthquakes coming; you hear like a rumble or a deep roar. But this one we had no warning at all – there was just a sudden boom. This was next level, it sounded like “Something that comes along once in a generation.”

The government Disaster Management Office said at least 10 buildings in Port Vila suffered major structural damage. The tremors caused by the earthquake also led to power outages and mobile phone services.

One building that houses several embassies, including the US Embassy and the British High Commission, was particularly affected, Craig said.

“This building just collapsed,” he said. “There were about seven or eight buildings (in that area) that suffered catastrophic collapse, and I expect the death toll to rise.”

A barrage of aftershocks were also reported during the night.

“There were lots and lots of aftershocks throughout the night,” Australian Caroline Bird, who runs a resort in Port Vila, told ABC News. “Maybe (I can't) even count them.”

Six victims died as a result of the landslide, while four others were in a collapsed building at the time of the earthquake. The death toll is expected to rise further.

Chinese Ambassador to Vanuatu Li Minggang told state media that two of the 14 victims were Chinese citizens.

Pictures posted by Vanuatu police on Facebook showed rescuers sifting through rubble with their hands and crawling under the floors of collapsed buildings.

Michael Thompson was among those who worked through the night searching for survivors.

He said in a Facebook post that three people were rescued from a building overnight, but later told news agencies that one of them had since died.

Rescue teams were in desperate need of jackhammers, excavators and cold drinking water, Thompson said, adding that many rescuers “worked through the night.”

The United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs said an estimated 116,000 people could be affected by the worst effects of the earthquake.

However, according to Mr. Craig, most of the damage was limited to one specific area. He added that Vanuatu's suburbs were largely unaffected, as were most people living outside the capital.

“We are used to cyclones causing problems such as food scarcity and affecting housing. This time there is none of that,” he said.

“But we don't usually see this many deaths as a result of natural disasters, so deaths at this level, this is not normal for us.”

Neighboring Australia will send teams to assist in search and rescue efforts, while the United States and France have also pledged assistance.

The quake occurred at 12:47 local time (01:47 GMT) on Tuesday and triggered a short tsunami warning.

Vanuatu, a low-lying archipelago of about 80 islands in the South Pacific, is located west of Fiji and thousands of kilometers east of northern Australia.

Vanuatu is located in a seismically active area, and is prone to frequent large earthquakes and other natural disasters.

“We had Covid, and then we had three hurricanes last year. So this is the last thing we really need,” Mr Craig said. “But I think there will be some semblance of normalcy by Thursday.

He added, “Tomorrow the banks will open. We need some devices from Australia to restore the Internet, and we will get them soon, and electricity will return within a few days. So we are suffering now, but we will get through it.”