Buildings in Vanuatu damaged and casualties reported as magnitude 7.3 earthquake hits South Pacific island nation
Buildings have been damaged and there are reports of injuries after a powerful earthquake struck just off the coast of the South Pacific island nation of Vanuatu.
The tremor was centred near Port Vila, the largest city on the group of 80 islands, at a depth of 35 miles (56km) below the earth’s surface on Tuesday, the US Geological Survey (USGS) said.
It was followed by a magnitude 5.5 aftershock at the same spot and the shudders continued throughout the afternoon and evening local time.
Communications with the country, which is home to around 330,000 people across its islands, were knocked out by the quake, making official information scarce.
But witness accounts of casualties arriving at hospitals began to surface on social media and through patchy phone calls.
Video posted online showed extensive damage to buildings, as well as vehicles and roads.
Soldiers were at the site of one collapsed building, whose awning had fallen onto cars, crushing them.
Another video showed what appeared to be extensive damage to the ground floor of the US embassy, where windows had buckled and walls turned to rubble.
Other foreign missions, including those of Britain, France, and New Zealand, suffered some damage, including buckled windows.
Products lie scattered across the floor following a strong earthquake in Port Vila, Vanuatu. Pic: Tana Plaza Pharmacy via Reuters
Another video, posted by Dan McGarry, showed aerial pictures of a “massive” landslide at the international shipping terminal.
Mr McGarry, a journalist based in Port Vila, told The Associated Press he heard of one death in the quake from a police officer outside Vila Central Hospital where he saw three people on gurneys “in obvious distress”.
Doctors were working “as fast as they could” at a triage centre outside the emergency ward, he added. But the nation is not equipped for a mass casualty event, Mr McGarry said, adding that the airport’s runway is also damaged.
Videos shared by the Vanuatu Broadcasting and Television Corporation also showed crowds outside the hospital.
Reports of people trapped inside buildings could not immediately be confirmed.
A Red Cross spokesperson in Fiji said the head of the aid agency’s Vanuatu office had reported widespread damage before communications were cut off.
The USGS issued a tsunami warning for waves of up to 30cm (11 inches) to 1m (39 inches) above the tide level for some coasts on Vanuatu but the warning was called off less than two hours after the quake.
Warnings of smaller waves were issued for a number of nearby Pacific Island countries, including Papua New Guinea, Fiji and Solomon Islands.
Vanuatu government websites were offline in the aftermath of the quake and phone numbers for the police and other public agencies did not connect, making it difficult to confirm details.
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Authorities in Australia and New Zealand said there was no tsunami threat to their countries.
Katie Greenwood, a Fiji-based regional head of the International Federation of Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies, posted on social media platform X to say trained Red Cross volunteers were on the ground in Vanuatu and ready to assist affected communities.
World
Ukraine war: 14 killed as Russian missile and drone attacks strike Kyiv – including American citizen
Russian missile and drone attacks have killed 14 people in Kyiv overnight, according to Ukrainian officials.
A 62-year-old US citizen who suffered shrapnel wounds is among the dead.
At least 99 others were wounded in strikes that hollowed out a residential building and destroyed dozens of apartments.
Pic: AP
Emergency workers were at the scene to rescue people from under the rubble.
Images show a firefighter was among those hurt, with injured residents evacuated from their homes.
President Volodymyr Zelenskyy described the attack as “one of the most terrifying attacks on Kyiv” – and said Russian forces had fired 440 drones and 32 missiles as civilians slept in their homes.
“[Putin] wants the war to go on,” he said. “It is troubling when the powerful of this world turn a blind eye to it.”
Pic: AP
Ukraine’s interior minister, Ihor Klymenko, said 27 locations across the capital have been hit – including educational institutions and critical infrastructure.
He claimed the attack, in the early hours of Tuesday morning, was one of the largest on the capital since Russia’s full-scale invasion began in February 2022.
Drones swarmed over the city, with an air raid alert remaining in force for seven hours.
One person was killed and 17 others injured as a result of separate Russian drone strikes in the port city of Odesa.
Pic: Reuters
It comes as the G7 summit in Canada continues, which Ukraine’s leader is expected to attend.
Volodymyr Zelenskyy was due to hold talks with Donald Trump – but the president has announced he is unexpectedly returning to Washington because of tensions in the Middle East.
Ukraine’s foreign minister says Moscow’s decision to attack Kyiv during the summit is a signal of disrespect to the US.
Moscow has launched a record number of drones and missiles in recent weeks, and says the attacks are in retaliation for a Ukrainian operation that targeted warplanes in airbases deep within Russian territory.
Kyiv’s mayor Vitali Klitschko says fires broke out in two of the city’s districts as a result of debris from drones shot down by the nation’s air defences.
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Pic: AP
On X, Ukraine’s foreign ministry wrote: “Russia’s campaign of terror against civilians continues. Its war against Ukraine escalates with increased brutality.
“The only way to stop Russia is tighter pressure – through sanctions, more defence support for Ukraine, and limiting Russia’s ability to keep sowing war.”
Olena Lapyshnak, who lived in one of the destroyed buildings, said: “It’s horrible, it’s scary, in one moment there is no life. I can only curse the Russians, that’s all I can say. They shouldn’t exist in this world.”
World
Israeli tank shelling kills 51 people waiting for aid in Khan Younis, Hamas-run health ministry says
Israeli tank shellfire has killed at least 51 Palestinians in Khan Younis, according to the Hamas-run health ministry in Gaza.
Hundreds of others have been injured, with “dozens of critical cases” arriving at a medical complex.
It is feared that the number of fatalities will rise.
Pic: Reuters
The strikes took place as people waited for United Nations and commercial aid trucks in the southern Gaza city.
Witnesses said that Israeli forces carried out an airstrike on a nearby home before opening fire toward the crowd.
“Emergency, intensive care, and operating rooms are experiencing severe overcrowding,” a statement said.
Officials say medical staff “are operating with limited supplies of life-saving medicines” – with the ministry renewing an “urgent appeal” to increase aid.
Pic: Reuters
Hours earlier, Donald Trump had joined other G7 leaders to call for a “de-escalation of hostilities in the Middle East, including a ceasefire in Gaza”.
The Israeli military is yet to comment on this incident.
On Monday, Gaza’s health ministry said at least 34 people were shot dead near food distribution centres.
This was the highest reported daily total since Israel and US-backed aid centres opened last month, with thousands of Palestinians moving through Israeli military-controlled areas to reach them.
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