Vanuatu quake leaves NZ workers stuck in Fiji, anxious to return

By Koroi Hawkins of RNZ

Dozens of Vanuatu workers returning home from working on orchards and vineyards in New Zealand are stuck in Fiji, with commercial flights yet to resume to the quake-stricken country.

Local authorities said on Wednesday the Bauerfield International Airport would likely remain closed until at least Saturday.

Similar scenes were playing out for their colleagues across the ditch, with Australian airlines the first to announce the cancellation of flights to Port Vila.

RNZ Pacific caught up with a cohort of more than 80 workers trying to sort out their accommodation for the night at the Grand Melanesian Hotel in Nadi.

Danson Kirk said he was on a call with his wife, who was at a wharf preparing to board an outboard motor canoe in the capital to head home to their village, when the 7.3 magnitude quake struck on Tuesday.

“While we were talking then suddenly the earthquake [started] and she told me that ‘hey this is a big earthquake’,” Kirk said.

Local authorities have been working around the clock since Tuesday to try to locate and rescue people trapped in the rubble left by the magnitude 7.3 earthquake. Photo / Vanuatu Police Force

Kirk said she switched to her front-facing camera and started showing him some of what was going on and then she was cut off with the entire country as power, internet and all telecommunications went out in the immediate aftermath of the quake.

“I was worried because the whole network in Vanuatu was down. So, I didn’t know if she had made it back to our island or not,” he said.

And Kirk remained in the dark for hours, until 11pm on Tuesday when telecommunications started being restored. He was able to reach his wife who reassured him that their family were all safe.

Emergency teams from Australia and New Zealand have been deployed to assist in the race against time to find survivors.

Vanuatu seasonal workers check into a hotel in Nadi to await the resumption of commercial airline services to Port Vila. Photo / Koroi Hawkins, RNZ Pacific

Kirk said he and his colleagues just wanted to get home so they could start helping out.

“So that we can go back and look after our families and work and help other families as well,” he said.

He shared a message on behalf of his group to everyone back home: “Even though we are far away our hearts are with you. You are not alone. We are always by your side. And we pray for you constantly.”

Francis Kelep was among the workers stranded in Nadi. He said them arriving all at once had overwhelmed the room space for the hotel they had booked and some of them were being transferred to another establishment.

Most of the workers in his group were employed by Mr Apple and the company was taking care of all travel and accommodation, he said.

Kelep said it had been clearly explained to them they would need to spend a few days in Fiji before commercial flights into Vanuatu resumed and they could get home.

The men looked weary from their travels but were cracking jokes and playing Vanuatu music to keep each other’s spirits up.

Kelep said many of them had not yet been able to reach their families back home and did not know if they were safe or not.

“We tried our best to make contact, but we don’t know how they are,” Kelep said.

“When we heard about the earthquake, we were so close to going home but the earthquake has blocked us to stay here two or three nights. I don’t even know [how long for],” Kelep said.

“But we want to go and check on our families if they are alright or not. We pray that god can help us to travel from here to Vanuatu,” he said.

Kelep said one of his fellow workers had sent money to his wife on Tuesday and she had just come out of Western Union when the quake struck.

She was thrown to the ground and suffered minor injuries. Kelep said he tried his best to comfort his colleague when he got the news.

Photo / Sergeant Maria Eves, NZ Defence Force

“I said to him he should thank god she is even alive. there were others who had buildings fall on them and families who lost their loved ones.”

Another worker said his younger colleague’s wife had tried to run to safety during the quake and a piece of timber fell on her and broke her leg.

- RNZ

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