STORY: ::December 19, 2024
::Port Vila, Vanuatu
::Vanuatu locals live in tents as they fear
buildings collapsing after a massive quake
“Some of our houses are not safe anymore. Some of the houses, the wall fell off. The roof, the iron roof fell off. So that’s why we all came here. We stay here for this time being, until everything is finished and then we can go back to our places.”
“I could hear the walls cracking, and so my initial thought was to hide under the table, because that was, was what we were told during high school during an earthquake. But then I could feel like the building would collapse. So I started making my way outside towards the door. And so I held on to the door frame because there was nothing else to help support me up to make my way out of the building.”
Port Vila local Cynthia, who did not provide her surname, said some locals like her are living in makeshift tents because their houses are not safe anymore. “We stay here for this time being, until everything is finished, and then we can go back to our places,” she added.
Another local Alya said “I could hear the walls cracking, and so my initial thought was to hide under the table, because that was, was what we were told during high school during an earthquake. But then I could feel like the building would collapse. So I started making my way outside towards the door. And so I held on to the door frame because there was nothing else to help support me up to make my way out of the building.”
International search and rescue teams have joined teams in the search for survivors in the rubble in the capital Port Vila. Access to the city was restricted and residents were urged to comply with a curfew as heavy machinery dug through collapsed buildings.
