A 7.3 magnitude earthquake has struck near Vanuatu‘s capital Port Vila, triggering landslides, destroying cars and flattening multiple buildings, including a complex that is home to a number of Western embassies.
The number of deaths is yet to be confirmed but the full extent of the damage remains unclear, as power and mobile networks across the country remain cut off.
Dan McGarry, a journalist living in Port Vila told BBC that hospital authorities had told him at least one person had died. He had seen “several people who were visibly, seriously injured” outside the emergency unit.
Vanuatu is prone to earthquakes, but McGarry told the BBC the quake had felt like “the biggest one… in more than 20 years”.
The quake struck at 12:47 local time which is 01:47 GMT on Tuesday.
Emergency services are expected to be busy for a while as they are said to have limited equipment and capabilities,” McGarry said, adding that police at the Vila Central Hospital had told him one person had died, and the number of deaths was expected to rise.
Michael Thompson, director of the Vanuatu Jungle Zipline adventure company, told AFP news agency that he had seen bodies lying in the streets.
Vanatua is said to often have earthquakes.
Vanuatu is a low-lying archipelago of some 80 islands in the South Pacific, is located west of Fiji and thousands of kilometres east of northern Australia.
The nation sits in a seismically active area, and is susceptible to frequent large earthquakes and other natural disasters.
