Witnesses have appealed for help, describing chaotic scenes, widespread damage and people trapped in the rubble.
Stefan Armbruster & Harry Pearl
2024.12.17
Brisbane and Sydney
Rescue operations underway on a commercial building flattened by the earthquake in Port Vila’s CBD, pictured on Dec. 17, 2024.
[Michael Thompson/Vanuatu Zipline Adventures
A strong 7.3 magnitude earthquake struck off the coast of Vanuatu on Tuesday, U.S. geologists said, severely damaging a number of buildings in the capital, crushing cars and briefly triggering a tsunami warning.
Witnesses described a “violent shake” and widespread damage to Port Vila, located about 1,900 kilometers (1,180 miles) northeast of the Australian city of Brisbane.
The Pacific island nation is ranked as one of the world’s most at-risk countries from natural disasters and extreme weather events, including cyclones and volcanic eruptions.
Michael Thompson, an adventure tour operator based in the capital, said the quake was “bigger than anything” he’d felt in his 20 years living in Vanuatu.
“I was caught in the office with my colleague,” he told BenarNews. “When we came outside, it was just chaos everywhere. There have been a couple of buildings that have pancaked.
“You can hear noises and kind of muffled screams inside.”
[Michael Thompson/Vanuatu Zipline Adventures
A strong 7.3 magnitude earthquake struck off the coast of Vanuatu on Tuesday, U.S. geologists said, severely damaging a number of buildings in the capital, crushing cars and briefly triggering a tsunami warning.
Witnesses described a “violent shake” and widespread damage to Port Vila, located about 1,900 kilometers (1,180 miles) northeast of the Australian city of Brisbane.
The Pacific island nation is ranked as one of the world’s most at-risk countries from natural disasters and extreme weather events, including cyclones and volcanic eruptions.
Michael Thompson, an adventure tour operator based in the capital, said the quake was “bigger than anything” he’d felt in his 20 years living in Vanuatu.
“I was caught in the office with my colleague,” he told BenarNews. “When we came outside, it was just chaos everywhere. There have been a couple of buildings that have pancaked.
“You can hear noises and kind of muffled screams inside.”
The building housing the U.S., British, French and New Zealand diplomatic missions in the capital Port Vila partially collapsed during the earthquake, pictured on Dec. 17, 2024. [Michael Thompson/Vanuatu Zipline Adventures]
Video footage taken by Thompson outside the U.S. embassy showed the bottom floor of the building in downtown Port Vila had partially collapsed. Its windows are buckled and the foundations have been turned to rubble.
“We stood there yelling out to see if there was anyone inside the building,” Thompson said. “It looks really dangerous.”
The building also hosts the British, French and New Zealand missions.
Just down the main road from the embassy building, search and rescue teams were trying to force their way into a commercial building through the tin roof, Thompson said, but at the pace they were going it would be a “24 hour operation.”
“We need help. We need medical evacuation and we need qualified rescue personnel. That's the message,” he said.
Video footage taken by Thompson outside the U.S. embassy showed the bottom floor of the building in downtown Port Vila had partially collapsed. Its windows are buckled and the foundations have been turned to rubble.
“We stood there yelling out to see if there was anyone inside the building,” Thompson said. “It looks really dangerous.”
The building also hosts the British, French and New Zealand missions.
Just down the main road from the embassy building, search and rescue teams were trying to force their way into a commercial building through the tin roof, Thompson said, but at the pace they were going it would be a “24 hour operation.”
“We need help. We need medical evacuation and we need qualified rescue personnel. That's the message,” he said.
A number of buildings in Port Vila’s CBD have sustained serious damage, pictured on Dec. 17, 2024. [Michael Thompson/Vanuatu Zipline Adventures]
The quake was recorded at a depth of 43km and centered 30km west of the capital Port-Vila, according to the U.S. Geological Survey (USGS).
The U.S. Tsunami Warning System cancelled an initial tsunami warning for coastal communities in Vanuatu within 300km of the epicenter.
The quake hit the island nation not long after midday, coming into peak tourist season, when the streets of Port Vila were packed with people shopping and eating in restaurants, Thompson said.
He had seen at least one dead body among the rubble.
“The police are out trying to keep people back,” he said. “But it’s a pretty big situation here.”
In other videos posted online people can be seen running through the streets of the capital past shop fronts that had fallen onto cars. Elsewhere, a cliff behind the container port in Port Vila appears to have collapsed.
Dan McGarry, a Port Vila-based journalist, described the earthquake on social platform X as a “violent, high frequency vertical shake” that lasted about 30 seconds, adding the power was out around the city.
Vanuatu, home to about 300,000 on its 13 main islands and many smaller ones, is prone to earthquakes and volcanic eruptions because it straddles the seismically active Pacific “Ring of Fire.”
Vanuatu’s government declared a six-month national emergency early last year after it was hit by back-to-back tropical cyclones Judy and Kevin and a 6.5 magnitude earthquake within several days.
The quake was recorded at a depth of 43km and centered 30km west of the capital Port-Vila, according to the U.S. Geological Survey (USGS).
The U.S. Tsunami Warning System cancelled an initial tsunami warning for coastal communities in Vanuatu within 300km of the epicenter.
The quake hit the island nation not long after midday, coming into peak tourist season, when the streets of Port Vila were packed with people shopping and eating in restaurants, Thompson said.
He had seen at least one dead body among the rubble.
“The police are out trying to keep people back,” he said. “But it’s a pretty big situation here.”
In other videos posted online people can be seen running through the streets of the capital past shop fronts that had fallen onto cars. Elsewhere, a cliff behind the container port in Port Vila appears to have collapsed.
Dan McGarry, a Port Vila-based journalist, described the earthquake on social platform X as a “violent, high frequency vertical shake” that lasted about 30 seconds, adding the power was out around the city.
Vanuatu, home to about 300,000 on its 13 main islands and many smaller ones, is prone to earthquakes and volcanic eruptions because it straddles the seismically active Pacific “Ring of Fire.”
Vanuatu’s government declared a six-month national emergency early last year after it was hit by back-to-back tropical cyclones Judy and Kevin and a 6.5 magnitude earthquake within several days.
Bodies seen in Vanuatu capital after major quake'
SYDNEY
Rescue workers are seen at the site of a collapsed building after a powerful earthquake struck Port Vila, the capital city of Vanuatu, on Dec. 17, 2024
A powerful earthquake hit the Pacific island of Vanuatu on Tuesday, smashing buildings in the capital Port Vila including one housing the U.S. and other embassies, with a witness telling AFP of bodies seen in the city.
The 7.3-magnitude quake struck at a depth of 57 kilometres (35 miles), some 30 kilometres off the coast of Efate, Vanuatu's main island, at 12:47 pm (0147 GMT), according to the U.S. Geological Survey.
The ground floor of a building housing the U.S., French and other embassies had been crushed under higher floors, resident Michael Thompson told AFP by satellite phone after posting images of the destruction on social media.
"That no longer exists. It is just completely flat. The top three floors are still holding but they have dropped," Thompson said.
"If there was anyone in there at the time, then they're gone."
Thompson said the ground floor housed the U.S. embassy. This could not be immediately confirmed.
The United States has closed the embassy until further notice, citing "considerable damage" to the mission, the U.S. embassy in Papua New Guinea said in a message on social media.
"Our thoughts are with everyone affected by this earthquake," the embassy said.
The New Zealand High Commission, housed in the same building, suffered "significant damage", a statement from Foreign Minister Winston Peters' office said.
"New Zealand is deeply concerned about the significant earthquake in Vanuatu, and the damage it has caused."
Roof collapsed on cars
Thompson, who runs a zipline adventure business in Vanuatu, said: "There's people in the buildings in town. There were bodies there when we walked past."
A landslide on one road had covered a bus, he said, "so there's obviously some deaths there".
The quake also collapsed at least two bridges, and most mobile networks were cut off, Thompson said.
"They're just cracking on with a rescue operation. The support we need from overseas is medical evacuation and skilled rescue, kind of people that can operate in earthquakes," he said.
Video footage posted by Thompson and verified by AFP showed uniformed rescuers and emergency vehicles working on a building where an external roof had collapsed onto a number of parked cars and trucks.
The streets of the city were strewn with broken glass and other debris from damaged buildings, the footage showed.
Nibhay Nand, a Sydney-based pharmacist with businesses across the South Pacific, said he had spoken to staff in Port Vila who said most of the store there had been "destroyed" and that other buildings nearby had "collapsed".
"We are waiting for everyone to get online to know how devastating and traumatic this will be," Nand told AFP.
A tsunami warning was issued after the quake, with waves of up to one metre (three feet) forecast for some areas of Vanuatu, but it was soon lifted by the Pacific Tsunami Warning Center.
Earthquakes are common in Vanuatu, a low-lying archipelago of 320,000 people that straddles the seismic Ring of Fire, an arc of intense tectonic activity that stretches through Southeast Asia and across the Pacific basin.
Vanuatu is ranked as one of the countries most susceptible to natural disasters such as earthquakes, storm damage, flooding and tsunamis, according to the annual World Risk Report.
SYDNEY
Rescue workers are seen at the site of a collapsed building after a powerful earthquake struck Port Vila, the capital city of Vanuatu, on Dec. 17, 2024
A powerful earthquake hit the Pacific island of Vanuatu on Tuesday, smashing buildings in the capital Port Vila including one housing the U.S. and other embassies, with a witness telling AFP of bodies seen in the city.
The 7.3-magnitude quake struck at a depth of 57 kilometres (35 miles), some 30 kilometres off the coast of Efate, Vanuatu's main island, at 12:47 pm (0147 GMT), according to the U.S. Geological Survey.
The ground floor of a building housing the U.S., French and other embassies had been crushed under higher floors, resident Michael Thompson told AFP by satellite phone after posting images of the destruction on social media.
"That no longer exists. It is just completely flat. The top three floors are still holding but they have dropped," Thompson said.
"If there was anyone in there at the time, then they're gone."
Thompson said the ground floor housed the U.S. embassy. This could not be immediately confirmed.
The United States has closed the embassy until further notice, citing "considerable damage" to the mission, the U.S. embassy in Papua New Guinea said in a message on social media.
"Our thoughts are with everyone affected by this earthquake," the embassy said.
The New Zealand High Commission, housed in the same building, suffered "significant damage", a statement from Foreign Minister Winston Peters' office said.
"New Zealand is deeply concerned about the significant earthquake in Vanuatu, and the damage it has caused."
Roof collapsed on cars
Thompson, who runs a zipline adventure business in Vanuatu, said: "There's people in the buildings in town. There were bodies there when we walked past."
A landslide on one road had covered a bus, he said, "so there's obviously some deaths there".
The quake also collapsed at least two bridges, and most mobile networks were cut off, Thompson said.
"They're just cracking on with a rescue operation. The support we need from overseas is medical evacuation and skilled rescue, kind of people that can operate in earthquakes," he said.
Video footage posted by Thompson and verified by AFP showed uniformed rescuers and emergency vehicles working on a building where an external roof had collapsed onto a number of parked cars and trucks.
The streets of the city were strewn with broken glass and other debris from damaged buildings, the footage showed.
Nibhay Nand, a Sydney-based pharmacist with businesses across the South Pacific, said he had spoken to staff in Port Vila who said most of the store there had been "destroyed" and that other buildings nearby had "collapsed".
"We are waiting for everyone to get online to know how devastating and traumatic this will be," Nand told AFP.
A tsunami warning was issued after the quake, with waves of up to one metre (three feet) forecast for some areas of Vanuatu, but it was soon lifted by the Pacific Tsunami Warning Center.
Earthquakes are common in Vanuatu, a low-lying archipelago of 320,000 people that straddles the seismic Ring of Fire, an arc of intense tectonic activity that stretches through Southeast Asia and across the Pacific basin.
Vanuatu is ranked as one of the countries most susceptible to natural disasters such as earthquakes, storm damage, flooding and tsunamis, according to the annual World Risk Report.
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