{"id":1688,"date":"2024-12-19T12:31:25","date_gmt":"2024-12-19T12:31:25","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/invest360pro.com\/index.php\/2024\/12\/19\/vanuatu-searches-for-earthquake-survivors-with-no-water-as-death-toll-expected-to-rise\/"},"modified":"2024-12-19T12:31:25","modified_gmt":"2024-12-19T12:31:25","slug":"vanuatu-searches-for-earthquake-survivors-with-no-water-as-death-toll-expected-to-rise","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/invest360pro.com\/index.php\/2024\/12\/19\/vanuatu-searches-for-earthquake-survivors-with-no-water-as-death-toll-expected-to-rise\/","title":{"rendered":"Vanuatu searches for earthquake survivors with no water as death toll expected to rise"},"content":{"rendered":"

Wellington, New Zealand (AP) \u2014<\/strong> Vanuatu\u2019s capital was without water on Wednesday, a day after reservoirs were destroyed by a violent magnitude 7.3 earthquake that wrought havoc on the South Pacific island nation, with the number of people killed and injured expected to rise. <\/p>\n

The government\u2019s disaster management office said early Wednesday that 14 deaths were confirmed, but hours later said nine had been verified by the main hospital. The number was \u201cexpected to increase\u201d as people remained trapped in fallen buildings, a spokesperson said. About 200 people have been treated for injuries. <\/p>\n

Two of those killed were Chinese nationals, according to China\u2019s state-run Xinhua news agency, which cited Gu Zihua, an official at the Chinese embassy in Vanuatu. <\/p>\n

Frantic rescue efforts that began at flattened buildings after the quake hit early Tuesday afternoon continued 30 hours later, with dozens working in dust and heat with little water to seek those yelling for help inside. A few more survivors were extracted from the rubble of downtown buildings in Port Vila, also the country\u2019s largest city, while others remained trapped and some were found dead. <\/p>\n

A near-total telecommunications collapse meant people struggled to confirm their relatives\u2019 safety. Some providers began to reestablish phone service but connections were patchy. <\/p>\n

Internet service had not been restored because the submarine cable supplying it was damaged, the operator said. <\/p>\n

The earthquake hit at a depth of 57 kilometers (35 miles) and was centered 30 kilometers (19 miles) west of the capital of Vanuatu, a group of 80 islands home to about 330,000 people. A tsunami warning was called off less than two hours after the quake, but dozens of large aftershocks continued to rattle the country. <\/p>\n

The Asia-Pacific head of the International Federation of Red Cross, Katie Greenwood, speaking to the Associated Press from Fiji, said it was not clear how many people were still missing or killed. <\/p>\n

\u201cWe have anecdotal information coming from people at the search and rescue site that are fairly confident that unfortunately those numbers will rise,\u201d she said. <\/p>\n

The capital\u2019s main medical facility, Vila Central Hospital, was badly damaged and patients were moved to a military camp. Clement Chipokolo, Vanuatu country director at the Christian relief agency World Vision, said health care services, already strained before the quake, were overwhelmed. <\/p>\n

No water in the capital<\/h2>\n

While power was out in swathes of Port Vila, the biggest fear among aid agencies was the lack of water. Two large reservoirs serving the capital were totally decimated, the National Disaster Management Office said. <\/p>\n

Resident Milroy Cainton said people were joining large queues to buy water in stores, but could only purchase two or four bottles at a time. \u201cPeople are not really concerned about electricity, they\u2019re just concerned about water,\u201d he said. <\/p>\n

UNICEF was recording a rise in diarrhea among children, a sign that they had begun to drink tainted water, said the chief of the Vanuatu office, Eric Durpaire. Officials told residents of areas where water had been restored to boil it. <\/p>\n

At least 10 buildings sustained major damage, many in a busy downtown area full of lunchtime shoppers when the quake hit. An unknown number of people were trapped inside, and Cainton, the resident, said rescuers had been forced to target their efforts to where they believed people could be saved. <\/p>\n

Michael Thompson, who runs a tourism business in Vanuatu, was among the rescuers and posted a video on Facebook of the frenzied efforts and dust-covered survivors on gurneys along with pleas for people to bring tools and water to the site. <\/p>\n

Officials said Wednesday night that Port Vila appeared to be the worst-hit area, but some nearby villages and offshore islands had experienced landslides. Three bridges were \u201cat high risk of collapse\u201d in heavy rain, the government said. <\/p>\n

A building housing a number of diplomatic missions in Port Vila \u2014 including those of the United States, Britain, France and New Zealand \u2014 was destroyed, with a section of the building cleaving off and flattening the first floor. Windows were buckled and walls crumbled. <\/p>\n

The US State Department said its embassy staff were safe, but the building was no longer functional. The office opened in July as part of a push by the US to expand its Pacific presence to counter China\u2019s influence in the region. <\/p>\n

New Zealand\u2019s foreign ministry said officials have accounted for all embassy staff. Australia\u2019s foreign ministry said its workers were safe. <\/p>\n

Damage to the seaport and airport is likely to hamper aid efforts and economic recovery in a country dependent on agricultural exports and tourism. The airport was closed to commercial flights for a further 72 hours from Wednesday. <\/p>\n

But the runway was deemed functional for humanitarian flights by French engineers who arrived by helicopter. Military craft from Australia and New Zealand were due to begin arriving Wednesday night, carrying search and rescue personnel and equipment, as well as relief supplies. <\/p>\n

Dan McGarry, a journalist living in Vanuatu, said there had been a \u201cmassive landslide\u201d at the international shipping terminal. The government said the main wharf was closed. <\/p>\n

Vanuatu\u2019s position on a subduction zone \u2014 where the Indo-Australian tectonic plate moves beneath the Pacific Plate \u2014 means earthquakes of greater than magnitude 6 are not uncommon, and the country\u2019s buildings are intended to withstand quake damage. <\/p>\n<\/p>\n

This post appeared first on cnn.com<\/div>\n

<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Wellington, New Zealand (AP) \u2014 Vanuatu\u2019s capital was without water on Wednesday, a day after reservoirs were destroyed by a violent magnitude 7.3 earthquake that wrought havoc on the South Pacific island nation, with the…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":1689,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[118],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-1688","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-world"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/invest360pro.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1688","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/invest360pro.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/invest360pro.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/invest360pro.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/invest360pro.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1688"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/invest360pro.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1688\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/invest360pro.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/1689"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/invest360pro.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1688"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/invest360pro.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1688"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/invest360pro.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1688"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}