Vanuatu reopening to commercial flights, quake toll hits 12

Vanuatu reopening to commercial flights, quake toll hits 12
by AFP Staff Writers
Port Vila, Vanuatu (AFP) Dec 21, 2024

Vanuatu said on Saturday it will lift a suspension on commercial flights to restart its vital tourism industry following an earthquake that killed at least 12 people.

The 7.3-magnitude earthquake struck off the main island on Tuesday, toppling concrete buildings in the capital Port Vila and setting off landslides.

It damaged water supplies, knocked out mobile networks and halted operations at the capital's main shipping port.

Twelve people have been confirmed killed so far, according to government figures relayed late Friday by the United Nations' humanitarian affairs office.

The dead include two Chinese, one Thai, and one French national, according to the UN update and embassy officials.

Vanuatu has declared a seven-day state of emergency and a night-time curfew.

But commercial flights, halted since the quake, will resume on Sunday, Airports Vanuatu said, allowing the return of holidaymakers to the archipelago of 320,000 people, which sits in the Pacific's quake-prone Rim of Fire.

"Following close consultations with all our airport agencies, we are pleased to announce that we will be reopening Port Vila International Airport to commercial airline operations tomorrow," it said in a statement.

"We encourage stranded passengers both within Vanuatu and abroad to contact your relevant airlines to confirm details of your travel plans."

Tourism directly and indirectly contributes to more than half of the country's economic activity, said Glen Craig, chair of the Vanuatu Business Resilience Council.

"It's important the world knows we're going to be back open for business," Craig told AFP.

"The quake has obviously been terrible but the damage is localised. Life goes on as usual for 99 percent of the people here and the many villages outside Port Vila.

"They have livelihoods and it's so important that we don't suffer an economic disaster in the wake of this."

Engineers have certified the infrastructure at Port Vila's Bauerfield International Airport, while aviation fuel supplies have been cleared as uncontaminated, Airports Vanuatu said.

- Quake damage 'extensive' -

The quake has displaced more than 1,000 people -- many now with other households or in evacuation centres, the latest UN report said, citing Vanuatu disaster management officials.

There are critical needs for electricity, clean water, food assistance, hygiene and sanitation and shelter, it said.

"Infrastructure damage is extensive, with landslides obstructing road access in Efate and the outer islands, including routes to the seaport," the report said, referring to Vanuatu's most populous island.

"The authorities have sealed off Port Vila's Central Business District, declaring it off-limits to the public until engineering assessments are completed."

Australia and New Zealand have dispatched more than 100 personnel, along with rescue gear, dogs and aid supplies, to help hunt for trapped survivors and make emergency repairs.

A total of 424 Australian citizens have been evacuated on Royal Australian Air Force flights, with two further flights scheduled for Saturday.

Rescuers extend search for Vanuatu quake survivors
Port Vila, Vanuatu (AFP) Dec 20, 2024 - Rescuers say they have expanded a search for trapped survivors in quake-rocked Vanuatu to "numerous places of collapse" beyond the capital on Friday, after the death toll climbed to at least 10.

The 7.3-magnitude earthquake struck off the main island on Tuesday, toppling concrete buildings in Port Vila and setting off landslides.

It has damaged water supplies, knocked out mobile networks, halted operations at the capital's main shipping port and led to a suspension of commercial flights.

Ten people have been confirmed killed so far, according to ministry of health figures relayed Thursday by the United Nations' humanitarian affairs office.

Two of the dead were Chinese and one French, their embassies have confirmed.

Toll figures issued by the authorities have sometimes been contradictory as officials grapple with the disaster.

Vanuatu President Nikenike Vurobaravu said there were "around 16 dead", citing the police, in a televised address posted by the public broadcaster VBTC News to social media.

About 80,000 people have been directly affected by the earthquake in the archipelago of 320,000, which sits in the Pacific's quake-prone Ring of Fire, the UN said.

More than 14,000 of them are children.

Australia and New Zealand have dispatched more than 100 personnel, along with rescue gear, dogs and aid supplies, to help hunt for survivors and make emergency repairs.

There are "several major collapse sites where buildings are fully pancaked", Australia's 69-strong rescue team leader Douglas May said in a video update provided by Canberra on Friday.

- Pile of concrete -

"Outside of that, there's a lot of smaller collapses around the place," May said.

"We're now starting to spread out to see whether there's further people trapped and further damage. And we've found numerous places of collapse east and west out of the city."

In Port Vila, rescuers have focused on two disaster areas: a four-storey building housing a supermarket, hotel and garage in the north in which the ground floor was flattened, and a two-floor shopping block in the city centre that crumbled into a flat pile of concrete.

The shopping block is where "most of the lives have been lost", Vanuatu's Emergency Services Association acting manager Jeff Mabbett told AFP.

His rescue team was on-site minutes after the quake hit, rescuing those they could.

Four days on, the unit was still digging through landslides and the rubble of buildings.

The rescue effort was being hampered by "limited access to heavy machinery, very small spaces, poor lighting and multiple large aftershocks", Mabbett said.

- Tourist medics help out -

A second team was providing medical support, including setting up a field hospital for survivors.

"We have seen over 100 patients in the three days post-earthquake, with a range of ailments," Mabbett said.

"We are lucky to have had the kind support from tourists who are paramedics, doctors and nurses from Australia and New Zealand who have assisted us with clinical staffing until their repatriation flights took off."

Rescuers were tired but in "good spirits", he said.

The quake also wrecked a building housing the US, French, British, Australian and New Zealand diplomatic missions. The ground floor along half of that four-storey structure was flattened, but no deaths were reported.

The government has declared a seven-day state of emergency and a night-time curfew.

"One concern now is that there are reports of 900 people displaced out of their houses and who have been sleeping outside for the last few days and nights, without proper access to water and sanitation facilities," said Philippe Guyant, a World Health Organization medical officer in Vanuatu.

Vanuatu has usually been able to set up refuge for disasters such as cyclones, he told AFP.

"But this time there was no evacuation centre, and people have stayed out for so long. There is a mix of people, some fearing to go back to ... their houses destroyed in the earthquake."