Australians evacuated from Vanuatu after ‘terrifying’ earthquake

Australians have begun to return home after the devastating 7.3 magnitude earthquake that hit Vanuatu on Tuesday, as rescuers rush to help those still trapped.

Foreign Minister Penny Wong said 148 Australians had travelled back on two RAAF aircraft that delivered supplies and assistance to the Pacific nation.

Overnight, 148 Australian citizens returned home on the two RAAF aircraft that delivered vital assistance to Vanuatu.Credit: DFAT

With the airport reopening on Wednesday afternoon, relief and support teams from Australia were able to touch down, including a C17 Globemaster and a C130 Hercules aircraft with personnel from Queensland and NSW fire and rescue.

Australian Federal Police, a foreign affairs department crisis response team and a medical assistance team were also deployed.

Taskforce leader, Chief Superintendent Douglas May, said the first priority was to help people trapped under the rubble of collapsed buildings.

“Ultimately, we know there are lives to be saved there right now,” he said.

The capital’s main medical facility, Vila Central Hospital, has been badly damaged, and patients moved to a military camp. Clement Chipokolo, Vanuatu country director at the Christian relief agency World Vision, said healthcare services, already strained before the quake, were overwhelmed.

The government’s disaster management office said 14 deaths had been confirmed, but hours later, it said the main hospital had verified nine.

The death toll was “expected to increase” as people remained trapped in fallen buildings, a spokesperson said. About 200 people have been treated for injuries.

A young mother fresh off a nine-month Queensland work stint is among the dead. Rodney Prestia, chief executive of labour-hire business iComply, told AAP the 26-year-old woman, who he identified only as Valerie, was crushed in a collapsed building.

“It’s an absolute tragedy, and our team’s been really rattled by it,” he said.

Rescuers search for survivors in Port Vila.Credit: Vanuatu Police Force/Anadolu via Getty Images

France’s Ambassador Jean-Baptiste Jeangène Vilmer on Thursday confirmed the death of a French national, Vincent Goiset, a resident in Vanuatu who was killed under the rubble of a collapsed building in the city centre, he said in a Facebook post.

Two of those killed were Chinese nationals, according to China’s official Xinhua News Agency, which cited Gu Zihua, an official at the Chinese embassy in Vanuatu. No Australian deaths have been reported.

A near-total telecommunications collapse meant people struggled to confirm their relatives’ safety. Some providers began to re-establish phone service, but connections were patchy.

Internet service had not been restored because of damage to an underwater data cable, the operator said.

Terrifying shake

Australian Ivan Oswald owns a cafe in Port Villa. He was at home with his two children and three of their friends enjoying a play date when the earthquake hit.

“We heard a big earthquake and we are used to it by now, you can feel it coming … but it got worse quickly,” he said. “I got the kids and got into the corridor with reinforced walls. The kids were shaken up, not knowing what was going on. They were absolutely terrified.

“Oswald, who has lived in Vanuatu since 2002, and his family were unharmed. Footage captured from his cafe showed his staff and customers running from the building as the earthquake threw heavy fridges around the building and sent debris flying.

A screengrab of the CCTV footage captured at Ivan swald’s Nambawan Cafe in Port Vila, Vanuatu, during the earthquake.

The Billabong shop which once stood nearby Oswald’s cafe was flattened. Staff working at the cafe at the time were unharmed, however with most communications still down, Oswald hasn’t been able to confirm if his other workers are safe.“We are one of the few businesses with internet access .

Most people we know don’t have power and don’t have water. We’ve had the cafe open to give out free food and drinks to emergency services,” he said.

Oswald said locals are resilient, but many were anxious to get in touch with loved ones. He is offering his cafe internet to anyone who needs it.

“I’m talking to a lot of locals and expats and we are just trying to get back to normal life. A lot of people were in shock, and a lot of people here just trying to help. We can’t just sit back and do nothing.”

Australian personnel arriving in Vanuatu to assist with relief work.

Prime Minister Anthony Albanese said the people of Vanuatu had a long road to recovery ahead.

“Australia stands ready to provide further assistance to our Pacific family in their time of need,” he wrote on X.

Other countries have also offered support, with a US military aircraft expected to arrive on Thursday, while France sent a military helicopter with satellite communications and military engineers.

A New Zealand rescue team’s arrival has been delayed until Thursday after their military flight had to be diverted on Wednesday evening to New Caledonia due to an engine fire warning, New Zealand media reported.

‘It got stronger and stronger’

Tim Cutler, the Sydney-raised boss of Vanuatu Cricket, said he was having lunch in the downtown Coffee Tree cafe when the huge tremor shook surrounding buildings.

“The first shake was not an alien feeling to anyone that has spent much time in Vanuatu. You get frequent tremors,” he told AAP.

“But it just got stronger and stronger, so I went from a moment of ‘oh’ to ‘oh no’.

“Things were just flying around, and I was lucky not to be hit by anything. A couple of people I was with had a few bruises, some people were screaming, some were quiet, a few people were running around.

“A water tank fell over and rolled onto a lady hiding under a table ... it was just surreal slow-motion [that felt] somewhere between a dream or a movie or at a theme park.”

UNICEF child protection officer Rebecca Olul said she had gone out for lunch and was leaving a cafe when the quake struck, throwing her to the ground.

“I was just alongside a three-storey building, so when I went down, the immediate thing I did was look up and hope it wasn’t going to come down on me,” she told AAP.

UNICEF’s Port Vila office in a six-storey building was damaged, but all 19 staff escaped injury.

Olul said she had driven around town and people were still sitting in parks and under trees, scared of aftershocks causing further collapses.

Rodney Prestia, who pivoted his business to Pacific workers when backpackers stopped arriving because of the COVID-19 pandemic, said he had worked with more than 1000 “fantastic” workers from Vanuatu.

He said any Australians wanting to help Vanuatu should visit the Melanesian paradise when conditions allow.

“It’s two and a half hours away. It’s pristine,” he said.

AAP, AP, Reuters, with Jessica McSweeney

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