Commercial flights resume for quake-hit Vanuatu

• Commercial flights to Vanuatu resume today, five days after a severe earthquake hit the island.
• Airports Vanuatu CEO Jason Rakau prioritised returning stranded citizens and allowing visitors to leave.
• Vanuatu experienced another earthquake this morning; the Red Cross highlights Starlink’s role in disaster response.

By RNZ

Commercial flights into Vanuatu are set to resume today, five days after a severe earthquake hit the island.

Airports Vanuatu chief executive Jason Rakau said he was thankful the only damage to the airport was from things being thrown around in the terminal.

“We’ve had a number of different engineers come in to assess and so far what they have mentioned is that there is no damage sustained to our structure.

“So that’s enabled us now to make the decision to recommence commercial operations.”

The priority was enabling Vanuatu citizens stranded outside the country to return home, and for visitors to Vanuatu to be able to leave.

Rakau hoped passengers would be able to get home for Christmas.

Stranded passengers should organise travel with their respective airlines, he said.

Rescuers search a collapsed building in Vanuatu capital Port Vila. Photo / AFP

Two passengers on New Zealand’s final repatriation flight out of Vanuatu on Saturday said it was a huge relief when they found out they had seats on the plane.

About 70 evacuees from 16 countries boarded the Defence Force flight which landed back in Aotearoa last night.

Aucklanders Rebecca Shrigley and Nooroa Marsters had been holidaying at the Iririki Island Resort in Port Vila.

They say the earthquake was a harrowing experience.

“We were just back from the coastline so we were outside,” Shrigley said.

“It was like the ground was an ocean – the concrete was like a wave.”

Marsters said they held on to each other as their vehicle shook.

Aftershocks continue

Vanuatu had another earthquake this morning after Tuesday’s magnitude 7.3 tremor that caused widespread damage.

The aftershock hit near the island nation at around 4.30am NZT at a magnitude of 6.1 and a depth of 40km.

It’s the latest in a series of aftershocks.

Starlink invaluable

The Red Cross says Starlink in Vanuatu has been transformational for responding to disasters.

John Moriarty, who is working in Port Vila, said most of the infrastructure in the capital was quite broken.

He took the Vanuatu Red Cross its first Starlink kit 18 months ago and he brought in an additional one to improve coverage.

Both have proved their worth as the country recovers from the disaster.

Almost a week after the magnitude 7.3 quake most businesses in Port Vila still have no internet and the telecommunications network supports only local calls and texts.

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