Vanuatu quake leaves 14 confirmed dead as emergency crews search Port Vila

# Vanuatu quake leaves 14 confirmed dead as emergency crews search Port Vila

*Event date: 2024-12-17*

The death toll from Vanuatu’s 7.3-magnitude earthquake has reached 14, and authorities in the Pacific island nation say 200 people were treated for injuries as rescue crews continued searching through Port Vila, according to RNZ. The report said the quake damaged buildings in the capital and left some concrete structures collapsed with people inside.

The numbers point to a serious urban disaster. International Federation of Red Cross Pacific head of delegation Katie Greenwood said the Vanuatu government was reporting 14 confirmed fatalities, while emergency workers were still trying to reach people trapped under rubble. The report also said the New Zealand High Commission was among the buildings damaged, giving a sense of how widely the shaking affected the city.

The government response was already moving into emergency mode. Vanuatu Prime Minister Charlot Salwai said a state of emergency and curfew were in place in the worst affected areas, and he asked for international assistance. Those steps suggest that local authorities expected the response to stretch beyond what the national system could handle alone.

The United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs estimated that 116,000 people had been affected. That figure matters because it shows the quake’s impact extends far beyond the confirmed dead and injured; it includes people whose homes, workplaces, roads or services may have been damaged or disrupted. The report also noted that aftershocks continued following the initial earthquake, adding to the danger for rescuers and residents.

What the packet makes clear is that the quake hit a densely affected capital city and that rescue work was still active overnight. It also says the death toll was expected to rise because buildings had collapsed with people inside. In practical terms, that means the 14 deaths reported at this stage may not be the final count.

For Vanuatu, a country built around a chain of islands in a seismically active region, the emergency is both immediate and structural. The current priority is search and rescue in Port Vila; the next challenge will be restoring access, assessing damage and dealing with the large number of people whose lives were interrupted by the quake even if they were not physically injured.

The report's bottom line is that the emergency is still unfolding: rescue crews are working, aftershocks are continuing, and officials are asking for outside help.