Vanuatu earthquake: NZ rescue crews head to quake-hit nation as search for survivors continues

New Zealand emergency workers from both the Defence Force and Fire and Emergency are joining the race to save those trapped under buildings that have collapsed in Port Vila after a 7.3 earthquake hit Vanuatu.

There are fears some remain trapped under landslides also.

The death toll climbed to 14 on Wednesday while at least 200 are being treated for injuries.

Two Chinese nationals were among the fatalities, the Chinese ambassador told Reuters.

There were concerns for two New Zealand embassy staff who were unaccounted for overnight but they were safe, Foreign Affairs Minister Winston Peters announced this morning.

The international response

Caretaker Prime Minister Charlot Salwai said a national disaster committee has declared a state of emergency and imposed a curfew for seven days in the worst-affected areas, Reuters reports.

The United States Agency for International Development said it was sending a team to Vanuatu, where it keeps relief supplies pre-positioned in Port Vila.

Australia's government said a 64-person disaster response team with two dogs to undertake urban search and rescue operations, as well as Australian Federal Police, would arrive on Wednesday.

France's ambassador to Vanuatu, Jean-Baptiste Jeangene Vilmer, said a French military helicopter had arrived from New Caledonia with satellite communications and military engineers

Port Vila's international airport would be closed to commercial airlines for 72 hours, to allow medical and emergency aircraft to land, Airports Vanuatu chief executive Jason Rakau told VBTC.

The UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs estimated 116,000 people, around one-third of the country's population, had been affected by the earthquake.

New Zealand sends specialists to assist

The Defence Force has begun an airlift of emergency workers, equipment and supplies to Port Vila.

The Air Force on Wednesday carried out a surveillance flight over key infrastructure sites such as the port and the city's airport.

Crew members are staying the night in Fiji and will undertake another surveillance flight on Thursday.

Images taken from the plane will be used to help authorities understand the extent of the damage.

An RNZAF Hercules left Whenuapai on Wednesday afternoon, carrying Urban Search and Rescue personnel, Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Trade staff, and equipment to Vanuatu.

Defence says a second Hercules is scheduled to depart early on Thursday.

Fire and Emergency New Zealand is sending 34 Urban Search and Rescue personnel after a request from MFAT.

Their focus will be on carrying out search and rescue operations to support the local emergency management agency.

Casualty numbers expected to rise

Dan McGarry, a journalist in Port Vila, has told Checkpoint an industrial forklift that is usually used to lift large containers has been used to slowly lift a collapsed building.

"Otherwise we've got people on foot, crawling over the wreckage, listening for sounds, signs of life and very, very carefully sifting through the wreckage. It's quite dangerous work... so it's going to be proceeding slowly."

He says six people died in a very large landslide on the road leading out to the international shipping terminal. It's visible from about 1km away, he says.

"It's extensive and I don't think we have a full accounting from there yet, there's just such a huge amount of debris on the roadside. There's one stone that's as big as my house sitting down on the tarmac at the terminal area."

They did not know how many people were missing because of the poor communication but he said the Disaster Management Office expected the number of casualties to rise in the coming days.

Kiwi Stu McKewen who has lived in Vanuatu for almost 20 years says Port Vila looks like "a bit of a bomb site".

"There's search and rescue and people down there with diggers. They've pulled a couple more people out alive [today], which is good, there's still a few missing."

McKewen was due to move to the Philippines, flying out of Port Vila on Wednesday, but his flight was cancelled.

He told Checkpoint when the quake hit he was doing some last minute DIY before his going away party.

"I was changing a door handle downstairs when it hit so I had to hold onto the door and I had trouble standing up, just the noise and the violent shaking, glasses falling off, everything falling down. It was just, yeah, it was a mess."

One person was killed when a large rock come down on their vehicle in a landslip on Wharf Road, he said.

"Another one, almost at the same time, one died and one was rescued out through the roof of the car. So the Wharf Road is a mess still, we're talking about massive boulders down there."

With the peak of the tourism season approaching, McGarry said people who had planned holidays in Vanuatu "are likely to be disappointed this Christmas".

"Our entire downtown is off limits right now."

Water contamination, aftershocks add to tension

Unicef chief of the Vanuatu Field Office Eric Durpaire told RNZ an increase in cases of diarrhoea this morning was a sign people don't have access to safe water.

Durpaire said the lack of utilities including running water, stable electricity supply and communications, was creating problems organising its emergency response, especially with co-ordinating supplies from overseas.

He's particularly worried about the lack of water for children.

Aftershocks have continued to hit Vanuatu, with at least 18 rattling the country overnight and more throughout the day.

A large 6.1 shake hit this morning, with New Zealander Glen Craig speaking to Morning Report's Ingrid Hipkiss when it struck.

Craig says people are on edge, but much of the most severe damage appears to be concentrated in Port Vila.

As aftershocks continued to rattle the island nation of 330,000 people, footage posted on social media showed vehicles crushed under the debris, boulders strewn across a highway and landslides near Port Vila's international shipping terminal.

National broadcaster VBTC showed people queuing for fuel and essentials with Port Vila's main supermarket closed.

Stressful time for ni-Vanuatu workers in NZ

Bay of Plenty kiwifruit company Seeka says it's supporting the 100 ni-Vanuatu fruit pickers helping with summer pruning to contact their families back home.

Its people and culture manager Shelley Aitken said some of the workers in New Zealand to help with summer pruning on the vines were taking time off work.

"They are a little shocked by the news obviously; they're quite worried about their families and their homes back in Vanuatu," Aitken said.

"Some of them are taking the day off today just to be together.

"We're working with them at the moment just to try and at this stage establish communications with their families to find out information about where they're at."

- RNZ / Reuters