Port Vila's central business district remains closed after the devastating earthquake, leaving businesses and workers facing uncertainty

In Vanuatu's bustling capital, the streets were quiet.

Port Vila's central business district, usually bustling with holiday activity, remains closed to the public more than two weeks after a deadly 7.3 magnitude earthquake struck, killing 14 people.

When pedestrians sometimes crowd the sidewalks, there is empty space — a surreal sight for city dwellers.

“It's very deserted,” said Evan Oswald, owner of Nambawan Café.

It is still uncertain when the CBD will reopen to the public. (ABC News: Leah Lonbo)

Vanuatu's week-long state of emergency has been lifted, Port Vila International Airport has reopened, and power and water have been restored to more than 95 percent of the city.

But as the country begins to recover after the disaster, early building assessments show that damage from the quake has made some buildings in Port Vila's central business district too unsafe to be occupied.

John Salong, Vanuatu's Minister of Disaster Management, said structural engineers would further assess the damage, including to some historic buildings in the central business district.

Port Vila's central business district, pictured in February 2024, is usually full of pedestrians and traffic. (ABC News: Doug Dingwall)

He said the city center remains closed because some buildings may need to be demolished.

“There is a significant amount of damage,” Salong said.

“For this reason, there must be a real action plan, especially regarding traffic management, before we can open the CBD.”

The closure of CBD roads has hampered traffic trying to cross the area.

Major organisations, including the National Bank of Vanuatu and the Vanuatu National Provident Fund, have had to move their offices to buildings outside the CBD for safety reasons.

Bayside Hotel Chantilly's announced it will remain closed “for some time” due to damage to the building.

Another disaster yet

Many other companies are in uncharted territory.

Business owners in Port Vila, long accustomed to the clean-up operations following Vanuatu's frequent tropical cyclones, say the effects of the quake are different.

Nambawan Cafe, a popular waterfront venue, took just days to install a new roof following damage from Tropical Cyclones Judy and Kevin in early 2023.

Nambawan Cafe quickly replaced its front roof after damage from Tropical Hurricanes Jody and Kevin. (ABC News: Doug Dingwall)

But Mr. Oswald, the owner, said the effects of the Dec. 17 quake were different, mainly because of continued uncertainty.

It remains unclear how long the CBD – and thus its café – will remain closed, making it difficult to plan repairs and new equipment.

“We don't have real access to work, we won't have clients, I don't know for how long — weeks or months,” he said.

“We don't know what will happen now.

“It's been so devastating, these last few weeks.”

The café employees are also unsure when they will be able to return to work.

Harley Morton, owner of The Boat House café, also a popular hangout in the CBD, said all revenue from the business had stopped while the CBD remained closed.

Mr Morton said the only information the company was able to obtain was gossip.

“We have been forced into lockdown without any information or communications attempts to help us move forward from the government,” he said.

“We are struggling to keep our employees on the job and are trying to subsidize their wages ourselves to ensure they are not left high and dry this holiday period.”

He hopes a recovery plan will emerge that will allow the city to reopen.

“Uncertain future”

Some business leaders believe a partial reopening of the CBD is possible in the short term.

Glen Craig, chair of the Vanuatu Business Resilience Council, said that based on the results of initial assessments, about 70 per cent of the city center could reopen in the near term.

“We believe there is an option for a limited opening, provided that it is absolutely 100 percent safe and deemed safe by local and international engineering experts, to determine which areas should be cordoned off and which areas can be reopened,” he said.

Construction assessments are underway in Port Vila following the earthquake. (ABC News: Leah Lonbo)

Craig said Vanuatu's economic recovery would need companies and government departments working again in the CBD.

He called on the government to involve the private sector in plans to reopen the region.

“When your only real town closes down, it becomes difficult to transact and do business,” he said. “And we are a service-oriented economy.”

“It's very important to get that normality back, to ensure that businesses can continue to trade and those great businesses that serve those communities.”

Salong, the disaster management minister, said calls for more information from the government were fair, but added that the country was witnessing a new kind of post-disaster situation.

He said: “Because we have all never been through this situation before, and there is a group working to ensure that every government building obtains an occupation certificate before it is reoccupied.”

Port Vila is usually packed with people during the Christmas and New Year period. (ABC News: Leah Lonbo)

He said construction engineers will conduct more damage inspections throughout the city, and the Director General of the Public Works Department will issue certificates allowing safe buildings to be reoccupied.

But Salong was unable to provide a timeline for reopening the CBD, saying it would depend in part on how quickly engineers assess damaged buildings, how quickly claims for insured buildings are processed, and how quickly unsafe buildings are demolished.

“And when it comes to demolition issues, we don't have demolition specialists in Vanuatu. We have construction workers in Vanuatu,” he said.

“So all these issues are because we've never been here before.”

Salong said the recovery plan to be drawn up by Vanuatu's National Recovery Commission would indicate the cost of rebuilding.

Is Vanuatu the most affected country in the world?

People in Vanuatu are praising its recent display of resilience in the wake of a deadly 7.3-magnitude earthquake, but say it cannot respond to successive natural disasters alone.

He estimated that it would take 10 years to restore Port Vila.

“We have gone beyond restoring basic services in a very short period of time,” he said.

“We have now reached the point where we need to plan a more systematic response to at least enable people to get some support to fully recover.

“It will take years to fully recover.”

Meanwhile, business owners like Evan Oswald are waiting to find out when they can reopen their doors.

“It's a very uncertain future for us in the city.”

With the Vanuatu Broadcasting Corporation.

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