WELLINGTON: Vanuatu’s capital was without water on Wednesday, a day after reservoirs were destroyed by a 7.3 magnitude earthquake. Earthquake Which caused havoc. A South Pacific island nationThe number of dead and injured is expected to increase.
The government’s Disaster Management Office said early Wednesday that 14 deaths had been confirmed, but hours later it said nine had been confirmed from the central hospital. A spokesman said the toll was expected to rise as people were trapped in collapsed buildings.
crazy Rescue efforts Starting with flattened buildings after the tremors on Tuesday afternoon, it continued 30 hours later, with dozens of people working in the dust and heat with little water to scream for help from inside. A few more survivors were pulled from the rubble of buildings in the city. Port VilaAlso the country’s largest city, while others were found stranded and some dead.
The near breakdown of telecommunications means people are struggling to confirm the safety of their relatives. Some providers began restoring phone service but connections were poor.
Internet service was not restored because the submarine cable supplying it was damaged, the operator said.
The quake struck at a depth of 57 km (35 mi) and was centered 30 km (19 mi) west of the capital of Vanuatu, a group of 80 islands home to about 330,000 people. Oh Tsunami warning The shutdown was called off less than two hours after the quake, but dozens of massive aftershocks continued to rock the country.
Katie Greenwood, Asia-Pacific head of the International Federation of the Red Cross, told The Associated Press from Fiji that it was unclear how many people were still missing or had been killed.
“We have anecdotal information coming in from people at the scene of search and rescue who are pretty confident that this number will unfortunately increase,” he said.
Vela Central Hospital, the capital’s main medical facility, was badly damaged and patients were shifted to a military camp. Christian relief agency World Vision’s country director for Vanuatu, Clement Chipokulu, said health care services were already poor before the earthquake.
No water in Port Vela While some areas of Port Vela were without electricity, the biggest fear among aid agencies was the lack of water. The National Disaster Management Office said two major reservoirs serving the capital have been completely destroyed.
Resident Milroy Kenton said people were joining long queues to buy water at shops, but they could only buy two or four bottles at a time. “People aren’t really worried about electricity, they’re just worried about water,” he said.
Vanuatu office chief Eric Dorpire said UNICEF is recording an increase in diarrhea among children, a sign that they are drinking contaminated water. Officials told residents in areas where water had been restored to a boil.
Some people are trapped under the rubble of at least 10 buildings severely damaged, many in a busy area of the city packed with lunchtime shoppers when the quake struck. An unknown number of people were trapped inside, and Kenton, the resident, said rescuers were forced to target their efforts where they believed people could be rescued.
Michael Thompson, who runs a tourism business in Vanuatu, was among the rescuers and posted a video on Facebook of dust-covered survivors on gurneys, as well as pleading for people to bring tools and water. .
Port Vila appears to be the worst-hit area, but landslides have occurred in some nearby villages and offshore islands, officials said Wednesday night. The government said three bridges were “at high risk of collapse” in heavy rain.
Embassies damaged A building housing several diplomatic missions in Port Vila – including those of the US, UK, France and New Zealand – was destroyed, part of the building collapsed and the first floor flattened. The windows were shattered and the walls collapsed.
The US State Department said its embassy staff was safe but the building was no longer operational. The office was opened in July as part of a push by the United States to expand its presence in the Pacific to counter China’s influence in the region.
New Zealand’s foreign ministry said authorities have accounted for all embassy staff. Australia’s foreign ministry said its workers were safe.
Damage to the port and airport, which grounded all flights, is likely to hamper relief efforts and economic recovery in a country dependent on agricultural exports and tourism. The airport was closed for commercial flights for another 72 hours from Wednesday.
But the runway was deemed viable for humanitarian flights by French engineers arriving by helicopter. Military craft from Australia and New Zealand were due to arrive on Wednesday night, carrying search and rescue personnel and equipment, as well as relief supplies.
Dan McGarry, a journalist based in Vanuatu, said there had been a “massive landslide” at the international shipping terminal. The government said that the main ghat is closed.
Vanuatu’s position on a subduction zone – where the Indo-Australian tectonic plate moves beneath the Pacific plate – means that earthquakes of magnitude 6 or higher are not uncommon, and the country’s buildings are designed to withstand earthquake damage.