At 12:47:26 VUT (01:47:26

UTC Coordinated Universal Time (UTC) is the primary time standard globally used to regulate clocks and time. It establishes a reference for the current time, forming the basis for civil time and time zones. UTC facilitates international communica ...

) on 17December 2024, a 7.3

earthquake An earthquakealso called a quake, tremor, or tembloris the shaking of the Earth's surface resulting from a sudden release of energy in the lithosphere that creates seismic waves. Earthquakes can range in intensity, from those so weak they ...

struck near

Port Vila Port Vila ( ; ), or simply Vila (), is the capital of Vanuatu and its largest city. It is on the island of Efate, in Shefa Province. The population was 49,034 as of the 2020 census. In 2020, the population of Port Vila formed 16.3% of the ...

, the capital of

Vanuatu Vanuatu ( or ; ), officially the Republic of Vanuatu (; ), is an island country in Melanesia located in the South Pacific Ocean. The archipelago, which is of volcanic origin, is east of northern Australia, northeast of New Caledonia, east o ...

. At least 14 people died while 265 others were injured. Extensive damage occurred in Port Vila and surrounding areas. The earthquake also generated a

tsunami A tsunami ( ; from , ) is a series of waves in a water body caused by the displacement of a large volume of water, generally in an ocean or a large lake. Earthquakes, volcanic eruptions and underwater explosions (including detonations, ...

Tectonic setting

The primary feature of the Vanuatuan archipelago, located on its west-southwest, is the

New Hebrides Trench The New Hebrides Trench (perhaps better termed the South New Hebrides Trench) is an oceanic trench which is over deep in the Southern Pacific Ocean. It lies to the northeast of New Caledonia and the Loyalty Islands, to the southwest of Vanuatu ...

, the convergent boundary between the

Australian Australian(s) may refer to: Australia * Australia, a country * Australians, citizens of the Commonwealth of Australia ** European Australians ** Anglo-Celtic Australians, Australians descended principally from British colonists ** Aboriginal Aus ...

and New Hebrides plates. Along the

Wadati–Benioff zone A Wadati–Benioff zone (also Benioff–Wadati zone or Benioff zone or Benioff seismic zone) is a planar zone of seismicity corresponding with the down-going slab in a subduction zone. Differential motion along the zone produces numerous earth ...

, earthquake activity has been observed as shallow, intermediate, and deep-focus events at depths of up to . Volcanic activity is also present along this north-northwest trending and northeast- dipping

subduction zone Subduction is a geological process in which the oceanic lithosphere and some continental lithosphere is recycled into the Earth's mantle at the convergent boundaries between tectonic plates. Where one tectonic plate converges with a second p ...

. This subduction zone is one of the most active plate boundaries globally, moving at a rate of approximately per year. While much of the

island arc Island arcs are long archipelago, chains of active volcanoes with intense earthquake, seismic activity found along convergent boundary, convergent plate tectonics, tectonic plate boundaries. Most island arcs originate on oceanic crust and have re ...

experiences intermediate-depth earthquakes along a Wadati–Benioff zone that dips steeply at 70°, the area adjacent to the

D'entrecasteaux Ridge The d'Entrecasteaux () Ridge (DER) is a double oceanic ridge in the south-west Pacific Ocean, north of New Caledonia and west of Vanuatu Islands. It forms the northern extension of the New Caledonia– Loyalty Islands arc, and is now activel ...

does not. There is a corresponding gap in seismicity that occurs below where it enters the subduction zone from the west. According to the NUVEL-1 global relative plate motion model, convergence is occurring at roughly per year. The uncertainty, which also affects the Tonga Arc, is due to the influence of spreading at the

North Fiji Basin The North Fiji Basin (NFB) is an oceanic basin west of Fiji in the south-west Pacific Ocean. It is an actively spreading back-arc basin delimited by the Fiji islands to the east, the inactive Vitiaz Trench to the north, the Vanuatu/ New Hebrides ...

. Of the 58 or greater events that occurred between 1909 and 2001, few were studied.

Earthquake

The earthquake struck some off the western coast of

Efate Efate (), also known as Île Vate (), is an island in the Pacific Ocean which is part of the Shefa Province in Vanuatu. Geography It is the most populous (approx. 66,000) island in Vanuatu. Efate's land area of makes it Vanuatu's third larg ...

. The

United States Geological Survey The United States Geological Survey (USGS), founded as the Geological Survey, is an agency of the U.S. Department of the Interior whose work spans the disciplines of biology, geography, geology, and hydrology. The agency was founded on Mar ...

(USGS) placed the earthquake at with a depth of . The

focal mechanism The focal mechanism of an earthquake describes the Fault (geology)#Slip.2C heave.2C throw, deformation in the Hypocenter, source region that generates the seismic waves. In the case of a Fault (geology), fault-related event, it refers to the ori ...

indicated oblique-normal faulting. Together with the hypocentral depth, this implied faulting within the

subducting Subduction is a geological process in which the oceanic lithosphere and some continental lithosphere is recycled into the Earth's mantle at the convergent boundaries between tectonic plates. Where one tectonic plate converges with a second pla ...

Australian plate. The USGS proposed two finite fault models: one depicting rupture on a northwest-trending fault with a shallow west-southwest dip, and the other on an east-northeast fault with a near-vertical dip. Both rupture models indicated a maximum slip of . Shaking was estimated to have lasted for around 30 seconds. Over 300 aftershocks were recorded, with the strongest measuring on 22 December. The earthquake with its current depth was significantly smaller than earthquakes typically responsible for generating damaging tsunamis.

Impact

At least 14 people were confirmed dead, while 265 others were injured and many others were still missing as of 23 December. Of the casualties, two of the fatalities were Chinese, one death and three of the injuries were Thai, and another fatality was French. Two children were also among the dead. Thousands of homes collapsed or suffered damage, including 245 which were completely or partially destroyed, although former Prime Minister Ishmael Kalsakau claimed that almost every single house on the island of

suffered damage. In

, at least 10 buildings collapsed, including some in a pancaking manner. A building housing the

United States The United States of America (USA), also known as the United States (U.S.) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It is a federal republic of 50 U.S. state, states and a federal capital district, Washington, D.C. The 48 ...

United Kingdom The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland, commonly known as the United Kingdom (UK) or Britain, is a country in Northwestern Europe, off the coast of European mainland, the continental mainland. It comprises England, Scotlan ...

, French and

New Zealand New Zealand () is an island country in the southwestern Pacific Ocean. It consists of two main landmasses—the North Island () and the South Island ()—and List of islands of New Zealand, over 600 smaller islands. It is the List of isla ...

embassies and high commissions collapsed on its ground floor. The United States, France, New Zealand and Australia said that their diplomatic personnel in Vanuatu were in safe condition. Many landslides occurred, including some that blocked roads and buried a wharf in the city. Two bridges also collapsed. The earthquake struck at a time when the center of Port Vila was busy with lunchtime shoppers. A landslide struck the international shipping terminal of Port Vila, while the runway and control tower of

Bauerfield International Airport Bauerfield International Airport () is an airport located in Port Vila, Vanuatu. The airport is relatively small in size, but its runway has the capability and length to accept jets up to the Airbus A330. It served as the hub for Vanuatu's flag ...

was damaged, leading to the cancellation of multiple flights and its closure to non-humanitarian flights for 72 hours. Another landslide buried a bus, resulting in multiple deaths. Two reservoirs and the Port Vila Central Hospital were also damaged, forcing the transfer of patients to a military camp. Landslides were also reported in outlying villages and islands, while three bridges were damaged to a point that they were at high risk of collapsing in case of heavy rain. Two power lines were also damaged. The earthquake also triggered landslides that blocked airfields in surrounding islands and damaged water supplies. The Port Vila Market was severely damaged and was later demolished. A tsunami was observed. The submarine cable providing internet service to Vanuatu was damaged, causing outages. Websites of Vanuatuan government agencies went offline, while communication lines for police and related authorities were rendered unserviceable. The Vanuatu Broadcasting and Television Corporation went off air due to damage to Broadcasting House. Despite connectivity issues, people were able to go online through

Starlink Starlink is a satellite internet constellation operated by Starlink Services, LLC, an international telecommunications provider that is a wholly owned subsidiary of American aerospace company SpaceX, providing coverage to around 130 countries ...

. The Vanuatu Red Cross Society building was also damaged. Power and water outages occurred in the city, leading to an increase in

diarrhoea Diarrhea (American English), also spelled diarrhoea or diarrhœa (British English), is the condition of having at least three loose, liquid, or watery bowel movements in a day. It often lasts for a few days and can result in dehydration d ...

cases. The main utilities provider, UNELCO, said it could take two weeks to fully restore water supplies. Extensive crop damage was recorded in Mataso due to landslides that buried gardens, sparking concerns over food shortages. Some residents in Port Vila were too scared to return to their homes due to aftershocks, with some families erecting tents in open places to sleep outside due to fear of further earthquakes. In Malorua, closest to the epicenter, six buildings were damaged and 20 hectares of land were affected by landslides. A landslide destroyed multiple homes and caused water outages in Mele Maat. The USGS estimated that the earthquake could cause economic losses measuring between 1–10% of Vanuatu's

GDP Gross domestic product (GDP) is a monetary measure of the total market value of all the final goods and services produced and rendered in a specific time period by a country or countries. GDP is often used to measure the economic performance o ...

. The

United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs The United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA) is a United Nations (UN) body established in December 1991 by the General Assembly to strengthen the international response to complex emergencies and natural disaster ...

estimated that 116,000 people had been directly affected by the earthquake, equivalent to a third of Vanuatu's population. Among them were 14,000 children. At least 2,435 people were displaced, while 20,000 were without water. The Recovery Operation Centre estimated that the amount needed to recover from the earthquake reached 29 billion

vatu The vatu (abbreviation: VT;The Reserve Bank of Vanuatu.Current Banknotes and Coins in Circulation" Accessed 2 March 2013. ISO code: VUV) is the currency of Vanuatu. It has no subdivisions. Etymology The term ''vatu'', used in all three off ...

(US$231.7 million). It also estimated that around 6,000 workers from 200 businesses operating in downtown Port Vila were affected. The education ministry said 45 schools were damaged, including Malapoa College, with rebuilding costs estimated at more than US$8 million.

Save the Children The Save the Children Fund, commonly known as Save the Children, is an international non-governmental organization. It was founded in the UK in 1919; its goal is to improve the lives of children worldwide. The organization raises money to imp ...

said nearly 13,000 children required temporary learning solutions. A survey by the Vanuatu Chamber of Commerce found that the extended closure of downtown Port-Vila had left 900 people unemployed.

Response

warning was issued by the Pacific Tsunami Warning Centre covering Vanuatu,

Fiji Fiji, officially the Republic of Fiji, is an island country in Melanesia, part of Oceania in the South Pacific Ocean. It lies about north-northeast of New Zealand. Fiji consists of an archipelago of more than 330 islands—of which about ...

, the

Kermadec Islands The Kermadec Islands ( ; ) are a subtropical island arc in the South Pacific Ocean northeast of New Zealand's North Island, and a similar distance southwest of Tonga. The islands are part of New Zealand. They are in total area and uninhabit ...

Kiribati Kiribati, officially the Republic of Kiribati, is an island country in the Micronesia subregion of Oceania in the central Pacific Ocean. Its permanent population is over 119,000 as of the 2020 census, and more than half live on Tarawa. The st ...

New Caledonia New Caledonia ( ; ) is a group of islands in the southwest Pacific Ocean, southwest of Vanuatu and east of Australia. Located from Metropolitan France, it forms a Overseas France#Sui generis collectivity, ''sui generis'' collectivity of t ...

Papua New Guinea Papua New Guinea, officially the Independent State of Papua New Guinea, is an island country in Oceania that comprises the eastern half of the island of New Guinea and offshore islands in Melanesia, a region of the southwestern Pacific Ocean n ...

, the

Solomon Islands Solomon Islands, also known simply as the Solomons,John Prados, ''Islands of Destiny'', Dutton Caliber, 2012, p,20 and passim is an island country consisting of six major islands and over 1000 smaller islands in Melanesia, part of Oceania, t ...

Tuvalu Tuvalu ( ) is an island country in the Polynesian subregion of Oceania in the Pacific Ocean, about midway between Hawaii and Australia. It lies east-northeast of the Santa Cruz Islands (which belong to the Solomon Islands), northeast of Van ...

and

Wallis and Futuna Wallis and Futuna, officially the Territory of the Wallis and Futuna Islands (), is a French island territorial collectivity, collectivity in the Oceania, South Pacific, situated between Tuvalu to the northwest, Fiji to the southwest, Tonga t ...

, with waves expected to reach . This was lifted on 14:14VUT. The Vanuatu National Disaster Management Office told residents of coastal areas to flee to higher ground. Authorities in the country were placed on high alert with one local journalist telling '' FBC News'' that the Vanuatu Mobile Forces (VMF) and government emergency workers were immediately mobilized to assist those affected, adding that "government officials are dealing with several casualties." A mass casualty triage centre was set up outside the emergency ward of Port Vila Central Hospital. The central business district of Port Vila was closed off, while a boil water notice was declared over the city. Officials are currently assessing the extent of the destruction and prioritizing rescue efforts. A seven-day state of emergency and a nighttime curfew was declared by Prime Minister Charlot Salwai, who also requested international assistance. Australia, France, New Zealand and the United States deployed humanitarian equipment and personnel to Vanuatu. Australia said it was assisting efforts to reopen Port Vila's airport. Fiji also offered support and deployed personnel. However with the airport in Port Vila inaccessible, Fijian personnel and humanitarian assistance were deployed via Santo International Airport in

Espiritu Santo Espiritu Santo (, ; ) is the largest island in the nation of Vanuatu, with an area of and a population of around 40,000 according to the 2009 census. Geography The island belongs to the archipelago of the New Hebrides in the Pacific region ...

island. From there, teams travelled to affected areas by marine vessels. Around 700 Australian citizens in Vanuatu were repatriated by the

Royal Australian Air Force The Royal Australian Air Force (RAAF) is the principal Air force, aerial warfare force of Australia, a part of the Australian Defence Force (ADF) along with the Royal Australian Navy and the Australian Army. Constitutionally the Governor-Gener ...

, while 81 New Zealanders and 12 other nationals were evacuated by the

New Zealand Defence Force The New Zealand Defence Force (NZDF; , "Line of Defence of New Zealand") is the three-branched military of New Zealand. The NZDF is responsible for the protection of the national security of New Zealand and its realm, promoting its interests, ...

. The French military evacuated 20 New Caledonian children. On 18 December, a

Lockheed C-130 Hercules The Lockheed C-130 Hercules is an American four-engine turboprop military transport aircraft designed and built by Lockheed Corporation, Lockheed (now Lockheed Martin). Capable of using unprepared runways for takeoffs and landings, the C-130 w ...

of the

Royal New Zealand Air Force The Royal New Zealand Air Force (RNZAF; ) is the aerial warfare, aerial military service, service branch of the New Zealand Defence Force. It was formed initially in 1923 as a branch of the New Zealand Army, being known as the New Zealand Perm ...

carrying an urban search and rescue team to Vanuatu was diverted to

Nouméa Nouméa () is the capital and largest city of the French Sui generis collectivity, special collectivity of New Caledonia and is also the largest Francophone city in Oceania. It is situated on a peninsula in the south of New Caledonia's main i ...

due to an engine fire warning. China also sent 35 tons of humanitarian aid. The British High Commission in Vanuatu donated £400,000 (US$496,880) in humanitarian aid to UNICEF Pacific. On 20 December 2024, over seven tonnes of aid were delivered by

. This alongside the deployment of an urban search and rescue team, Ministry of Health staff, as well as New Zealand Red Cross personnel, with the latter providing satellite phones and

devices. On 22 December, Port Vila airport resumed commercial operations. The 2025 Vanuatuan general election originally scheduled on 14 January was moved to 16 January due to the earthquake. On 17 April 2025, NZ Foreign Minister

Winston Peters Winston Raymond Peters (born 11 April 1945) is a New Zealand politician. He has led the political party New Zealand First since he founded it in 1993, and since November 2023 has served as the 25th Minister of Foreign Affairs (New Zealand), ...

announced that New Zealand would contribute NZ$10 million to Vanuatuan earthquake recovery efforts.

References

External links