The 7.3 magnitude earthquake that occurred yesterday caused serious landslides in the capital area. During the night numerous aftershocks were recorded. Rescuers race against time to find survivors trapped in buildings. This Pacific archipelago has close ties to Beijing and two of the victims were Chinese citizens.
Port Vila (/Agencies) – Rescue teams are working against the clock to search for survivors trapped in the rubble of buildings that collapsed with the strong earthquake that shook the island of Vanuatu yesterday, triggering a tsunami warning that later was withdrawn. The current toll – still provisional – of the 7.3 magnitude earthquake with its epicenter in the area of the capital, Port Vila, is at least 14 dead and more than 200 injured. However, in the next few hours others could be added, especially in the downtown area of the city, where the greatest number of victims and damages are concentrated. A witness who was in Vanuatu’s tallest building at the time of the earthquake said he managed to get out just minutes before the structures collapsed, burying the people still inside.
A series of aftershocks were also recorded last night, while law enforcement declared a state of emergency for seven days to try to limit population movements during rescue operations. According to estimates by the United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs, there would be around 116,000 people affected in different ways by the most serious effects of the earthquake.
In statements to the BBCGlen Craig, president of the Vanuatu Business Resilience Council, said he was “in good spirits” yesterday and was enjoying the Christmas holidays with his wife when the earthquake hit, taking them completely by surprise. “Us [en Vanuatu] We are used to disasters… Normally – he explains – you can feel that an earthquake is approaching; It feels like thunder or a deep roar. But in this case we had no warning, there was just a sudden boom. “It has been an impact on a higher level, one of those things that only happens once in a generation.”
The government’s disaster management department said at least 10 buildings in Port Vila had suffered “serious structural damage.” The earthquake also interrupted electricity and mobile phone service. Craig added that a building housing several embassies, including the recently inaugurated United States and the British High Commission, was hit especially hard. Six people were killed by a landslide and four others were in a building that collapsed at the time of the earthquake, and the death toll is expected to continue to rise. Finally, two of the 14 victims were Chinese citizens, as confirmed by the Chinese ambassador to Vanuatu, Li Minggang.
Vanuatu, made up of 80 atolls and with 300,000 inhabitants, is located west of Fiji and thousands of kilometers east of northern Australia, but it is at the same time the Pacific country with the closest ties to Beijing, to the point that the The only newspaper in the country also publishes online news in Chinese. On the occasion of the 40th anniversary of the establishment of diplomatic relations between the two countries, the ChinaDaily He noted that “China has never spared efforts to provide assistance to Vanuatu without any political conditions” to promote its development and improve the living conditions of the population, obtaining “applause from all social classes.” Beijing also built the Parliament building, a sports field and various infrastructure to “promote agricultural and tourism development.” Last July, the United States also opened an embassy in the island country. Washington’s decision is precisely part of its prolonged competition with Beijing for control of the Asia-Pacific region.
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