Rescue teams dug for survivors trapped in crumpled buildings in the Pacific nation of Vanuatu on Wednesday after a powerful earthquake killed at least nine people and buried some in rubble and landslides.
People called out from beneath the remains of a flattened three-storey shop in the capital Port Vila, where scores of rescuers worked through the night to find them, resident Michael Thompson told AFP by satellite phone.
“We got three people out who were trapped. Unfortunately, one of them didn’t make it,” he said.
About 80 people including police, paramedics, trained rescuers and volunteers used diggers, hammers, grinders and concrete saws, “just anything we can get our hands on”.
As rescuers at the scene fell silent, they could hear three people inside signaling that they were alive Wednesday, Thompson said.
“There’s tons and tons of rubble on top of them. And two pretty substantial concrete beams that have pancaked,” he said. “Obviously, they’re lucky to be in a small void.”
AFP images showed rescuers using heavy machinery to claw away rubble from the crushed concrete remains of a building, and dust clouded the air.
The 7.3-magnitude quake struck off Vanuatu’s main island at 12:47 local time (0147 GMT) on Tuesday.
state of emergency
It flattened large buildings, cracked walls, shattered windows and triggered landslides in the low-lying archipelago of 320,000 people, which sits on the quake-prone Pacific Rim of Fire.
A series of aftershocks have since shaken the Pacific island nation.
Vanuatu declared a seven-day state of emergency “due to the severe impacts”, along with a 6pm-6am curfew.
Australia and New Zealand flew in medical and search and rescue personnel on military transport aircraft – including a 64-strong Australian team with two search dogs.
Nine people have been confirmed dead by Port Vila hospitals and that number is likely to rise, an update from Vanuatu’s disaster management office said.
The office had previously said at least 14 people were killed. A government spokesperson could not immediately explain the change.
Two of the dead were Chinese citizens, the country’s ambassador to Vanuatu told Chinese television.
The quake caused “major structural damage” to more than 10 buildings, including the main hospital, while also hitting three bridges and power lines, the disaster office’s report said.
Water reserves destroyed
Two major water reserves supplying Port Vila had been “totally destroyed”.
Mobile communications were “functional with intermittent interference,” it said.
Port Vila’s main wharf was closed “due to a large landslide”.
The airport was “not operational” but could handle incoming humanitarian aid, the report said.
French engineers set up satellite communications at the airport and declared the runway operational, French Ambassador Jean-Baptiste Jeangene Vilmer said.
The ground floor of a four-storey concrete block in Port Vila – used by the US, French, British, Australian and New Zealand diplomatic missions – collapsed, AFP images showed.
American, French and Australian employees who were inside are safe, the three countries have said.
Thompson, who runs a zipline adventure business in Vanuatu, said he had seen at least three bodies in the town.
“We could hear screams”
He was driving near the airport past a collapsed four-story building shortly after the quake. Its ground floor had collapsed under the upper floors.
“As we slowed down with the windows down we could hear screams coming from inside,” he said.
The quake crushed four large buildings in Port Vila and triggered landslides, including one that covered a bus, Thompson said.
The United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs has estimated that 116,000 people could suffer the worst effects of the quake.
“People are still hanging out in parks and some areas because they are afraid to go home for fear of aftershocks and more earthquakes,” said Rebecca Olul, a local official with the UN children’s agency UNICEF.
Concerns were mounting over the availability of fresh water and the challenge now would be to make sure people are safe and at the same time find those who are missing, she told AFP.
Vanuatu ranks as one of the countries most susceptible to natural disasters such as earthquakes, storm damage, floods and tsunamis, according to the annual World Risk Report.
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