The building housing New Zealand's High Commission and other diplomatic missions was damaged in the quake. Photo: Dan McGarry
The current focus in Vanuatu remains on finding any signs of life under the rubble, but it will soon move to rebuilding, New Zealand's High Commissioner Nicci Simmonds says.
Simmonds told Midday Report the death toll from Tuesday's earthquake remained at 16, but people were being found alive.
Simmonds said there had been improvements to water supply, power and communications, but the services remained unstable.
"Port Vila is the capital of the country, it's the economic hub, so we need the airport, the sea port, the domestic shipping, we need buildings to be able to work out of, and we need tourism back up and running."
There had been concerns about rain, and even a potential cyclone, but that had passed and the weather was clear, she said.
New Zealander Shell Piercy is a specialist paramedic and nurse and the outgoing chief executive of the Vanuatu emergency services association.
She said it was Vanuatu's cyclone season and the extreme heat was getting to the rescuers.
She said it was fantastic they had managed to pull seven people out of a collapsed building but described the scene as "absolute carnage".
It was likely that many more bodies would be found given that the quake occurred in the middle of the day in a busy city, she said.
The Defence Force flew out 93 people on a Boeing aircraft last night, including 81 New Zealanders.
"That was a huge effort and amazingly done in such a short amount of time, 24 hours before we'd only been able to contact eight Kiwis."
The Defence Force said the plane also delivered more than seven tonnes of aid.
In a statement, Air Component Commander Air Commodore Andy Scott said RNZAF aircraft continued to be on stand-by.
On Saturday, the focus would on delivering humanitarian assistance supplies ahead of further evacuations, he said.
"RNZAF personnel are pulling out all the stops to deliver support to Vanuatu," Air Commodore Scott said.
"Aircraft were flying as soon as aid supplies and equipment arrived at Whenuapai and could be packaged up. We have been using multiple aircraft types to provide support, and are extremely proud to be able to support our Pacific neighbours when they need our help."
New Zealand was the second largest development partner for Vanuatu, after Australia, and would play a key role in the recovery, Simmonds said.
"Right now the government here is focused on the immediate response."
She expected that to change in the next week or two.
The New Zealand High Commission building was one of those damaged by the quake.
"My home is now the office until we find some other place to work out of."
The more than 50 additional New Zealand public servants were working out of the High Commissioner's residence, she said.
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