Natural Disasters

The region has come a long way in the past couple of years, in terms of planning and resources for a major event.

The team missed Christmas with their families to help, and showed "ultimate professionalism", leader says.

A Dunedin man with a learning disability is spending Christmas Day cooped up inside a motel, as the date to move back into his flood-damaged house keeps being pushed back. Video

New Zealand's Urban Search and Rescue says impending bad weather for Port Vila is now the most significant post-quake hazard.

An uncontained bushfire raging in Australia's Victoria state that has prompted an evacuation order for hundreds of residents will burn for several days, officials said on Sunday.

Boarding has started for New Zealand's last repatriation flight from Port Vila. Audio

"Children were falling to the ground, everyone was falling all around, it was panic" when the earthquake struck, group supervisor says.

"They're putting a bright face on things, but they're struggling," the owner of a Cromwell vineyard says. Audio

The leader of the Vanuatu Business Resilience Council says only a few buildings in Port Vila are affected and on most of the island visitors would not even know a quake had occurred. Audio

An Urban Search and Rescue crew is painstakingly clearing the rubble of a pancaked building, searching for survivors layer by layer.

Valerie Kalkoa, a single mother who only returned home two days ago, leaves behind a three-year-old son.

There are conflicting reports of the official death toll - with members of the public voicing frustrations online.