Rescue workers at the site of a crumpled building Port Vila after a 7.3 magnitude earthquake.
Photo: AFP
As the death toll from a massive earthquake climbs, search and rescue specialists in Vanuatu’s Port Vila are still hopeful they can find survivors in multi-storey collapsed buildings.
On Thursday night, Vanuatu’s president said the police had put the death toll from the earthquake at about 16, with more than 200 people injured.
New Zealand’s Urban Search and Rescue team has been focussed on finding survivors in the Billabong building, which pancaked in Tuesday’s 7.3 magnitude earthquake.
The crew joined their Australian counterparts, who arrived 24 hours earlier. According to the ABC, they had pulled seven survivors from the rubble so far.
Up to eight people were thought to be trapped in another building.
Fire and Emergency New Zealand deputy national commander Brendan Nally said the team was concentrating all its efforts on finding people alive.
“There’s an area where it’s obviously not survivable and heavy machinery is clearing the rubble to make access to areas where it possibly is survivable.
“We’ve got all that high tech gear, but we still do the really old school (thing), everyone’s quiet, stop and listen. Listen for knocking and possible signs of life.”
He said the crew were familiar with the level of destruction, having responded to both the Christchurch and Kaikōura earthquakes, and were searching for survivors layer by layer.
“The pancaking is inside our knowledge base,” he said.
“It’s a de-layering job – lifting the floors and the walls off, up and out of the rubble pile and then looking for persons, trapped or otherwise.”
In addition to helping clear a landslide that was blocking the main port, a few members of the team were also helping to stabilise the flatten High Commission building, Nally said.
Although everyone managed to escape the building in the earthquake, he said the risk of injury from further collapse due to aftershocks was high and had to be mitigated.
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