A magnitude 7.3 earthquake struck Vanuatu on Tuesday, causing widespread damage and leaving at least 14 people dead. The death toll is expected to rise as rescue teams search for survivors.
Casualty figures from the earthquake which hit Vanuatu are expected with damage expected to hamper aid efforts. At least 14 people died following Tuesday’s magnitude 7.3 earthquake, which caused widespread damage and injured hundreds of people across the South Pacific island nation, officials said on Wednesday, with the figure expected to rise.
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.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
EARTHQUAKE VANUATU AID DEATH TOLL DAMAGE
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