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Reuters

An earthquake of magnitude 7.4 struck Vanuatu’s capital Port Vila on Tuesday, damaging buildings and cars with at least one person reported killed.
Vanuatu state broadcaster VBTC showed footage of vehicles crushed in a building collapse on a street lined with retailers. The broadcaster reported one person had been trapped in a collapsed building.
Police said at least one person had been killed and injured people had been taken to hospital, Dan McGarry, a journalist with the Organised Crime and Corruption Reporting Project based in Vanuatu, said in an interview.
“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,” he said.
The road connecting Port Vila to the international shipping terminal was blocked by landslides, he added.
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.

Other 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.
The US Embassy in Papua New Guinea said its embassy in Port Vila had sustained “considerable damage” and was closed until further notice. It added all staff in the building were safe and accounted for.
New Zealand’s High Commission building, which is co-located with the US, French and British missions, had “sustained significant damage,” the country’s foreign ministry said in a statement.
There were communications outages across the country, the New Zealand statement added, while the Australian High Commission in Vanuatu said its communication systems had also been affected.

The US Geological Survey (USGS) said the quake was at a depth of 10km (6.2 miles).
Half a dozen aftershocks hit Vanuatu following the initial quake, USGS data showed.
Several were heavy enough to be felt in Port Vila, McGarry said.
“There was one that had us all sort of perched and ready to move again. But none of them have been anywhere near as bad as the initial shock,” he said.
“There is substantial damage around town,” McGarry told the Australian Broadcasting Corporation in an earlier interview. “We’ve got a building that has pancaked.”
The US Tsunami Warning System cancelled an initial tsunami warning for Vanuatu following the earthquake.
Authorities in the US, Australia and New Zealand said there was no tsunami threat to their territories.
Australia’s Foreign Minister Penny Wong said Australia was closely monitoring the situation following the “devastating earthquake”.
“We stand ready to support Vanuatu, as the extent of the damage is assessed. Vanuatu is family and we will always be there in times of need,” she said in a statement.


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Buildings ‘pancaked’ in Vanuatu as 7.4 magnitude earthquake rocks Pacific nation

A severely damaged building housing the embassies of the US, Britain and New Zealand is seen after a powerful earthquake struck Port Vila, the capital city of Vanuatu, on Tuesday. Photo: AFP

A member of security personnel inspects a collapsed building in Vanuatu’s capital Port Vila on Tuesday. Photo: Facebook/Michael Thompson/AFP

A car is seen trapped underneath a collapsed building in Vanuatu’s capital Port Vila on Tuesday. Photo: Facebook/Michael Thompson/AFP

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Footage posted on social media showed buckled windows and collapsed concrete pillars on a building hosting foreign missions in the capital


Footage posted on social media showed buckled windows and collapsed concrete pillars on a building hosting foreign missions in the capital.


Vanuatu

Earthquakes

Natural disasters