Vanuatu’s public health system risks being overwhelmed amid mounting waterborne disease, aid agencies have said, as a lack of clean water and patchy telecommunications service complicated rescue operations after Tuesday’s powerful 7.3 magnitude earthquake.
The government’s disaster management office said early on Wednesday that 14 deaths had been confirmed, but hours later said nine had been verified by the main hospital. The number was expected to increase because people remained trapped in fallen buildings, a spokesperson said. About 200 people have been treated for injuries.
Much of Vanuatu remains without water after two large reservoirs serving the capital, Port Vila, were totally decimated by the earthquake, the National Disaster Management Office said. Landslides and aftershocks exacerbated the damage to water infrastructure and increased the risk of disease, aid agencies said.
Frantic rescue efforts were continuing around flattened buildings in Port Vila on Thursday after the quake hit on Tuesday afternoon with dozens working in dust and heat with little water to seek those yelling for help inside.
The capital’s 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.
Chipokolo said the search and rescue focus would soon shift to humanitarian needs, with Vanuatu needing medical personnel and supplies, as well as urgent needs for water, sanitation and food.
Unicef was recording a rise in diarrhoea among children, said the chief of the Vanuatu office, Eric Durpaire. Officials told residents of areas where water had been restored to boil it. “We already saw this morning an increase of children with diarrhoea cases, meaning they have started to drink contaminated water because the water supply has been broken,” Durpaire said.
Resident Milroy Cainton said people were joining large queues to buy water in stores, but could purchase only two or four bottles at a time. “People are not really concerned about electricity, they’re just concerned about water,” he said.
Australian and New Zealand rescue and medical teams have reached Vanuatu, authorities said on Thursday.
Australian foreign minister Penny Wong said about 150 Australian citizens had returned home overnight on the two aircraft that delivered assistance.
She said Australia would help Vanuatu restore operations at the international airport in Port Vila, which has been closed to commercial airlines because of damage.
A Royal New Zealand air force Hercules arrived in Port Vila with rescue equipment and medics on Thursday, and would assist with the evacuation of New Zealanders, said New Zealand officials. An earlier flight carrying rescue teams had to divert to New Caledonia after a fault was found with the ageing plane.
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.
Vanuatu’s national disaster management office said in a report the number of deaths and injuries was expected to increase, as search and rescue work continues.
Two Chinese nationals were among the confirmed dead.
France’s ambassador Jean-Baptiste Jeangène Vilmer on Thursday also confirmed the death of a French national, Vincent Goiset, a Vanuatu resident who was killed under the rubble of a collapsed building in the city centre.
French and Australian rescue teams are searching for survivors at a collapsed building, where eight to 15 people are buried, with some confirmed dead, he wrote.
A near-total telecommunications collapse meant people struggled to confirm their relatives’ safety. Some providers began to reestablish phone service but connections were patchy. Internet service had not been restored because the submarine cable supplying it was damaged, the operator said.
The earthquake hit at a depth of 57 kilometres (35 miles) and was centred 30 kilometres (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.
At least 10 buildings sustained major damage, many in a busy downtown area full of lunchtime shoppers when the quake hit.
Officials said on 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 “at high risk of collapse” in heavy rain, the government said.
A building housing a number of diplomatic missions in Port Vila – including those of the United States, Britain, France and New Zealand – was destroyed, with a section of the building cleaving off and flattening the first floor. Windows were buckled and walls crumbled.
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’s influence in the region.
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.
But the runway was deemed functional for humanitarian flights by French engineers who arrived by helicopter.
Vanuatu’s position on a subduction zone – where the Indo-Australian tectonic plate moves beneath the Pacific Plate – means earthquakes of greater than magnitude 6 are not uncommon, and the country’s buildings are intended to withstand quake damage.
With Associated Press and Reuters