Services still down nearly 24 hours after Vanuatu quake

Rescuers search for trapped people after the 7.3 earthquake in Vanuatu. Photo: Supplied / Vanuatu Police Force

World Vision's Vanuatu country director says electricity and water are still affected in Port Vila and strategic bridges connecting the city are damaged, nearly 24 hours after a 7.3 earthquake just before 1pm Tuesday afternoon.

The city has had multiple aftershocks since, with the strongest on Wednesday morning reaching a magnitude 5.5.

At least 14 people are confirmed to have been killed and more than 200 people are injured.

World Vision's Clement Chipokolo said the aftershocks are making everyone more vulnerable.

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"We're still out of electricity; we're out of water as well and most of the stores are closed," Chipokolo said.

"We have queues that are forming in the stores that are open for people to get essentials, especially water."

He said the main priority is to recover those buried under rubble and recover bodies, while service providers were frantically trying to restore water and power.

"There are a number of compromised strategic bridges that are very essential for connecting the town those are the ones that I'm worried about for now."

Chipokolo said phone lines are now up and running but there is no internet connectivity.

He said the public is starting to come to grips with what happened.

"I think we did not really gauge the scale of the impact yesterday, but now the public are sucking it in - how much we went through yesterday and by extension today."

Vanuatu is one of the most natural disaster-prone countries in the world and was hit by three severe tropical cyclones last year.

"We are a country that's quite resilient to disasters but this was not a disaster that we anticipated or probably prepared for," Chipokolo said.

However, he said the National Disaster Management Office (NDMO) which is the government arm that manages disasters, were on standby to support because of the cyclone season.