Australia commits additional support for Vanuatu earthquake recovery

Canberra, Jan 11 (IANS) The Australian government has committed additional humanitarian assistance for Vanuatu following December's deadly earthquake.

Foreign Affairs Minister Penny Wong and Minister for International Development and the Pacific Pat Conroy on Saturday announced a 10 million Australian dollar ($6.1 million) package to support the restoration of essential services and infrastructure in Vanuatu.

They said in a joint statement that the package will focus on education, health and transport and will be delivered through local systems and partners.

It builds on the Australian government's initial commitment of seven million Australian dollars ($4.3 million) of practical humanitarian assistance for the initial earthquake response.

The United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs estimated that 116,000 people were directly affected by the earthquake.

Earlier, the Asian Development Bank (ADB) also provided 5 million US dollars in contingent disaster financing to support emergency relief efforts in Vanuatu.

The grant came from the fifth phase of the Pacific Disaster Resilience Program, which also supported progress in strengthening the country's capacity to manage and reduce disaster risks.

The program was financed by a 20-million-dollar concessional loan from the ADB's ordinary capital resources and a 21-million-dollar grant from the Asian Development Fund.

The 7.3-magnitude shallow earthquake caused strong shaking near the capital Port Vila, about 30 km from the epicentre, at 12:47 local time on December 17, 2024, with a depth of 43 km, the US Geological Survey said.

The earthquake, described by locals as a "violent, high-frequency vertical shake," left at least 14 people dead and hundreds more injured so far, and an initial tsunami warning has since been lifted.

In 2009, two powerful earthquakes with a magnitude larger than 7.7 struck this region within 15 minutes of each other, and in 2021, the Loyalty Islands earthquake triggered multiple smaller earthquakes and tsunamis, he said.