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Vanuatu earthquake 'extends country's recovery from successive disasters'
As the dust settled from the Billabong surf shop on Port Vila's main street, passers-by ran straight into the rubble.
Moments after a 7.3-magnitude earthquake struck Vanuatu's capital at 1pm on Tuesday, the sight of the collapsed building galvanized them into action, launching a 28-hour search and rescue effort.
That afternoon and into the next day, members of ProRescue – a team of volunteers who provide life-saving services to the Vanuatu community – collaborated with the country's paramilitary force and members of the public to remove survivors from the rubble.
Search and rescue teams worked throughout the night to extract people from the building. (Supplied: Michael Thompson)
Troy Spann, ProRescue leader, said that while his volunteers were able to reach the first two with their own equipment, the task became more difficult after that.
It took a “team effort” to rescue other survivors, with the Vanuatu Mobile Force and community members using their machinery to clear debris, allowing ProRescue workers to enter and recover people.
“You're going into the dark. Every time we got someone out, it was a bonus,” Spahn said.
They recovered seven survivors from the wreckage, the last of whom appeared at 4 p.m. on Wednesday.
The team also removed a dead person so they could reach a trapped survivor.
By the time international search and rescue personnel arrived and took over, it was not clear how many others were in the store when it collapsed.
The Billabong building had customers inside when the quake struck. (FBTK)
As of Friday, the official death toll in Vanuatu from the quake was 10, but it is expected to rise.
John Salong, Vanuatu's Minister of Disaster Management, said on Thursday that people were still missing after the earthquake.
He also admitted that two days after the disaster, search efforts shifted to recovering bodies from the rubble of buildings and landslides around Port Vila.
Vanuatu is witnessing an official period of mourning, and a state of emergency has been imposed for a week while authorities scramble to restore water and electricity connections.
The disaster occurred while Vanuatu was recovering from the onslaught of crises that struck the developing country over the past two years.
Tropical Cyclone Lula caused extensive damage to buildings on the islands of Vanuatu including on Pentecost Day in October 2023. (Source: Andrew Gray)
Three powerful hurricanes devastated its islands last year – all while memories of Tropical Cyclones Pam (2015) and Harold (2020) remain fresh.
Pacific analyst Tess Newton Cain said that although Vanuatu had long witnessed natural disasters, in recent years they had followed them in quicker succession.
“When it comes to natural disasters and the impacts of climate change, Vanuatu is basically in a constant state of recovery,” she said.
“and [the earthquake] “It just adds to that.”
The earthquake also occurred at a time of uncertainty for Vanuatu, which has a transitional government and is holding early elections on January 14 after a new round of political unrest.
While people in Vanuatu applaud its latest show of resilience, they say it cannot respond to successive natural disasters alone.
A shaking city
The streets of Port Vila were bustling with people and traffic in the period leading up to Christmas, when the earthquake occurred about 30 kilometers west of the city, at a depth of 57 kilometers.
Its residents – who live in a country located on the seismically active Pacific “Ring of Fire” – usually feel the tremors.
But Tuesday's earthquake was the most severe earthquake many have witnessed.
The building, which houses the embassies of France and the United States, and the high commissions of New Zealand and the United Kingdom, was severely damaged. (X: Jean-Baptiste Janjin Filmer)
Salong, who was at the Tana Ruset shopping plaza in Port Vila during the quake, said the quake was the scariest and most devastating he had ever experienced.
“I saw everything flying, everything falling, everything shaking, and everything looking like the walls could collapse and the floors could collapse,” he said.
After the matter settled, people immediately knew to run to higher ground.
Ethel Tama was at a meeting at the Chantilly Hotel overlooking the bay when the shaking started.
“Everyone was so shocked,” she said.
“All the kids in the pool and everyone tried to escape. They couldn't because it was too fast and too strong.
“All we were thinking about was running to higher ground because we thought the tsunami would hit at that moment.”
At the Tshwane store in the Frisota 1 suburb of Port Vila, another resident, Alia, heard the walls cracking as the ground shook.
“My initial idea was to hide under the table, because that's what we were told during high school,” she said.
“I felt like the building was going to collapse, so I started walking out towards the door.
“I was holding on to the door frame until everything calmed down.”
Some Ni-Vanuatu residents have lost their homes and are now living in tents around Port Vila.
Port Vila resident Polly Siro lost his home in the 7.3 magnitude earthquake. (ABC News: Lilrose Wellwell)
In Stella Mare, on the outskirts of the city, community members who had been washing in a stream were taking shelter with children from the other side of the city in a nearby cave.
After stones fell on the entrance, they used another exit to escape and reach the neighboring village.
Masses of soil rushed down hills and slopes around the main island of Efate, hitting homes in the village of Milli Maat, northwest of Port Vila.
Another landslide buried part of the main road leading to the Port Vila jetty.
The Port Vila dock was crowded with people when the landslide buried the road leading to the facility. (Supplied: Dan McGarry)
The area was crowded with people leaving the city for their home islands to spend Christmas.
“The entire pier road was full of vehicles and people,” Salong said.
“We don't know how many people are buried there.”
“Punch in the gut”
As Vanuatu mourns the lives lost, it also gets to work.
It is a reaction for a country long accustomed to natural disasters.
As utility company UNELCO began to reconnect water and electricity, and communications were back up and running, people cleared rubble across the city and returned to work.
Romina Micallef, owner of the Nakatimbel resort, said businesses had already reopened on Wednesday, partly because in a country where there is no social security, people need their income to survive.
The collapse of Air Vanuatu raises questions
“As a community, we are all coming together and moving forward,” Ms Micallef said.
After three cyclones in 2023, the economic downturn caused by the coronavirus, and the collapse of national carrier Air Vanuatu in May, tourism companies are hoping to bounce back.
“You can't really throw more at people,” Ms Micallef said.
But she said that while the city was already rebounding, the cancellation of tourism threatened to plunge Vanuatu into further hardship.
Tourism companies, including the Iririki Resort in Port Vila, said Australian tourists would help Vanuatu's recovery. (ABC News: Doug Dingwall)
It is one of many tourism companies asking Australians not to cancel their holidays in Vanuatu.
“Cancellations are a punch in the gut, and we don’t need a punch in the gut now,” Micallef said.
“We all have to get our own shit together, and we can't do that without income. The only way we all get income is through tourism.”
Elasticity stretched thin
Dr Newton Cain said tourism would be part of Vanuatu's economic recovery over the coming months.
But she was concerned that the onslaught of crises hitting the country was giving her people little space to focus on prosperity.
“There are a number of people in Vanuatu, a number of companies, a number of communities, who feel that running to stand still is a form of exercise,” she said.
“I don't see that flexibility suddenly drying up.
“It's not like it's a finite resource, but it's being depleted quite a bit.”
Vanuatu still has to get through a cyclone season that lasts until April – and a low pressure system hovering over the Coral Sea has already triggered warnings on Thursday of heavy rain causing more landslides.
As the country begins its next round of recovery, it must also elect a new government.
Some wonder how the earthquake will affect the election date, but Salong said that under Vanuatu's constitution, elections must be held by mid-January.
“Everything must be done and can be done,” he added.
While Vanuatu is focused on immediate disaster response, it has not yet learned the cost of recovery efforts.
The interim government requested engineers from partner donor countries to determine the safety of Port Vila's buildings.
The developing country, which is already struggling to rebuild infrastructure after previous disasters, will also need financial assistance.
'David and Goliath moment' in The Hague could change future climate talks
Vanuatu's partners can also help with its long-term recovery by contributing to the newly established Loss and Damage Fund it has established with New Zealand, Salong said.
But some warn that although aid is needed, donor countries should allow Vanuatu to lead the recovery itself.
Dr Newton Cain said they should be careful to tailor their assistance to the country's needs.
“The experts on what Vanuatu needs are people who live in Vanuatu, who work in government, who work in the private sector, and who are part of civil society,” she said.
“And they are the people who should be leading the conversations about what happens next in terms of response and recovery.”
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