Casualty figures expected to rise after Vanuatu earthquake

Speaking from Fiji, the Asia-Pacific head of the International Federation of Red Cross’ Katie Greenwood said it was not clear how many people were still missing.

“We have anecdotal information coming from people at the search and rescue site that are fairly confident that unfortunately those numbers will rise,” she said, referring to the death toll.

Some villages had experienced landslides, she said, adding that communications had not been established yet with coastal areas near the centre of the quake.

It remained to be seen whether the Port Vila downtown area was “just the tip of an iceberg or whether that’s kind of the iceberg itself”, she said.

The airport was closed to commercial flights for 72 hours, with only humanitarian flights permitted to land.

Assessments of damage to the terminal building and runway were due to be undertaken on Wednesday and the government said the aircraft fuel reserve was contaminated in the quake.

Both New Zealand and Australia had readied aid flights to land on Wednesday, carrying search and rescue personnel and equipment, and other relief supplies.

A near total telecommunications collapse meant little was known about conditions outside the largest city and people struggled to contact the missing.

Some providers began to re-establish phone service on Wednesday. Internet service had not resumed.

Dan McGarry, a journalist living in Vanuatu, said there had been a “massive landslide” at the international shipping terminal. The government said the main wharf was closed.

The earthquake occurred just before 1pm at a depth of 57km (35 miles) and was centred 30km west of Port Vila, the largest city in Vanuatu, a group of 80 islands home to about 330,000 people.

A tsunami warning was called off less than two hours after the quake, which was followed by large aftershocks.

Four deaths were registered at the main hospital, six in a landslide and four in a collapsed building, a government notice said — but the figure was expected to rise. More than 200 injured people were treated at Vila Central Hospital.

At least 10 large buildings and three bridges sustained major structural damage. Water and power were down across Port Vila, with two large water reservoirs totally destroyed, the National Disaster Management Office notice said.

Vila Central Hospital was overwhelmed, said Clement Chipokolo, World Vision’s country director for Vanuatu.

The main building sustained major damage and patients were evacuated to another site, the government said.

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, with a section of the building cleaving off and flattening the first floor. Windows were buckled and walls crumbled.

The US Embassy’s Facebook page said all staff were safe, but the building was closed until further notice.

In his first official comments to emerge from the country, prime minister Charlot Salwai told the Vanuatu Broadcasting and Television Corporation that a state of emergency was declared and a curfew imposed between 6pm and 6am in the worst-hit areas.

Residents were earlier urged to stay away from coastlines for at least 24 hours, and until tsunami and earthquake monitoring systems were operational again.

Vanuatu’s position on a subduction zone — where the Indo-Australian tectonic plate moves beneath the Pacific Plate — means earthquakes of greater than magnitude 6 are not uncommon, and the country’s buildings are intended to withstand quake damage.