Magnitude 7.3 earthquake causes widespread damage in Pacific island nation of Vanuatu

WELLINGTON, New Zealand — A powerful magnitude 7.3 earthquake struck just off the coast of Vanuatu on Tuesday, causing widespread destruction in the South Pacific island nation as the injured began arriving at a hospital and unconfirmed reports of casualties emerged.

A tsunami warning was called off less than two hours after the quake. With communications still down hours later and official information scarce, witness accounts of casualties began to surface on social media and through patchy phone calls.

The earthquake occurred at a depth of 57 kilometers (35 miles) and was centered 30 kilometers (18 miles) west of Port Vila, the largest city in Vanuatu, a group of 80 islands that is home to about 330,000 people. The jolt was followed by a magnitude 5.5 aftershock near the same location and the shudders continued throughout the afternoon and evening local time.

It was not immediately clear how much damage was caused as phone lines and government websites remained down. In first official information published on social media hours after the quake, the Geohazards Department said its monitoring systems were offline due to power outages.

Residents were urged to stay away from coastlines for at least 24 hours — and until tsunami and earthquake monitoring systems were operational once again. No confirmed reports of damage or casualties were provided but accounts detailing widespread destruction filtered out on social media and in interviews.

Dan 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. McGarry saw three people on gurneys “in obvious distress,” he said.

Doctors were working “as fast as they could” at a triage center outside the emergency ward, he added. But the nation is not equipped for a mass casualty event, McGarry said.

Video shared by the Vanuatu Broadcasting and Television Corporation showed crowds outside the hospital. Phone numbers for the police, the hospital and other public agencies did not connect.

Accounts of people trapped inside collapsed buildings could also not immediately be verified. A video posted on social media appeared to show crumpled buildings in Port Vila, including one that had collapsed onto cars. 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.

A building housing a number of diplomatic missions in Port Vila — including those of the United States, Britain, France and New Zealand — was significantly damaged, New Zealand’s Foreign Ministry said. Officials were in the process of accounting for New Zealand High Commission staff, a spokesperson said.

The U.S. Embassy’s Facebook page said its office was closed until further notice.

A video posted to social media showed the building with some damage to its structure, including buckled windows and debris that had crumbled from walls to the ground. Other photos and videos showed items and shelves that had tumbled to the floors of shops and landslides that appeared to block some roads.

Katie Greenwood, the Fiji-based head of the Asia-Pacific regional office for the Red Cross, told the Australian Broadcasting Corp. that the downtown area of Port Vila was full of large buildings and hotels.

“We haven’t heard at the moment about any casualties, but I will be shocked if we don’t hear that bad news coming through from Port Vila at some point,” she said.

McGarry said a “massive landslide” at the international shipping terminal was likely to impede the country’s recovery. The airport’s runway is also damaged, he said.

Vanuatu’s position on a subduction zone — where the Indo-Australia tectonic plate moves beneath the Pacific Plate — means earthquakes of greater than magnitude 6 are not uncommon and the country’s buildings are intended to withstand quake damage.

“I think it could have been worse,” McGarry said. But this was the most serious he had experienced during 21 years in Vanuatu “by a long shot,” he said.

Australian Foreign Minister Penny Wong told reporters that Australian High Commission staff were safe.

“We will provide whatever assistance is required,” she said. “I say to the people of Vanuatu, you are family and Australia is here to help.”

New Zealand’s Foreign Minister Winston Peters said 45 New Zealanders were registered as being in Vanuatu. Peters said his government was “deeply concerned” about the situation there.

Phone lines and government websites remained down and official channels have not been updated, but reports of widespread destruction began to emerge on social media hours after the quake.