PORT VILA, Vanuatu: Rescue teams dug for survivors trapped in crumpled buildings in the Pacific nation of Vanuatu on Wednesday (Dec 18) after a powerful earthquake killed at least 14 people, some of them buried in rubble and landslides.
People called out from beneath the remains of a flattened three-storey shop in the capital Port Vila, where scores of rescuers worked through the night to find them, resident Michael Thompson told AFP by satellite phone.
“We got three people out that were trapped. Unfortunately, one of them did not make it,” he said.
About 80 people including police, medics, trained rescuers and volunteers used excavators, jackhammers, grinders and concrete saws, “just everything we can get our hands on”.
When rescuers on the site went quiet, they could hear three people within signalling they were alive on Wednesday morning, Thompson said.
“There’s tonnes and tonnes of rubble on top of them. And two rather significant concrete beams that have pancaked down,” he said. “Obviously they are lucky to be in a bit of a void.”
The 7.3-magnitude quake struck off Vanuatu’s main island at 12.47 pm local time (9.47am, Singapore time) on Tuesday.
