The 73 magnitude earthquake which struck at a depth of 57km occurred 30km to the west of the capital Port Vila at 247pm according to the US Geological Survey A large earthquake has hit near Vanuatu this afternoon The death toll now stands at 14 and is expected to rise because concrete buildings have collapsed with people inside in the capital Port Vila About 200 people were treated for injuries at the main hospital in Port Vila The 73 magnitude earthquake which struck at a depth of 57km occurred 30km to the west of the capital Port Vila at 247pm according to the US Geological Survey The region was hit by a 55 magnitude aftershock six minutes later The extent of damage sustained by the Pacific Island was not immediately clear Vanuatu government websites were offline in the aftermath of the quake A Red Cross spokesperson in Fiji said workers on the ground were reporting significant damage Video shared by the Vanuatu Broadcasting and Television Corporation showed crowds outside the Vila Central Hospital appearing to lift injured people onto stretchers NZ High Commission building sustained significant damage New Zealands Ministry of Foreign Affairs said it had been in contact with the countrys High Commissioner Nicci Simmonds in Vanuatu Our High Commission building which is colocated with the United States the French and the United Kingdom has sustained significant damage We are in the process of contacting our staff to check they are safe There were 45 New Zealanders registered on SafeTravel as being in Vanuatu The ministry said it expected there would be more who were not registered New Zealanders there should follow the advice of authorities and be prepared for aftershocks Six aftershocks were recorded by the United States Geological Survey measuring between 47 and 55 in the three hours after the initial quake The Ministry of Foreign Affairs said it was aware of communication outages in Vanutatu and anyone in need of consular assistance should contact the emergency consular line on 64 99 20 20 20 as soon as they were able On X the US Embassy in Papua New Guineas Port Moseby said it is aware of the recent earthquake and damage to their embassy building in Vanuatu The US Embassy in Port Vila has sustained considerable damage and is closed until further notice Our thoughts are with everyone affected by this earthquake and the US government will work closely with our partners in Vanuatu A video posted on social media appeared to show a building housing some diplomatic missions to Vanuatu including those of New Zealand Britain and France with damage to the structure including buckled window frames and debris that had crumbled from walls to the ground The National Emergency Management Agency and GNS Science said an assessment found there was no tsunami threat to New Zealand In a video posted to Facebook Michael Thompson gave an account of the aftermath in Port Vila He said theres multiple buildings that have come down around town The American Embassy is collapsed just pancaked Its gone Thompson said he was able to access Facebook via Starlink We need heavy equipment and we need some experienced personnel So if youve got a chance please send that out and see if we can get some assistance down to Vanuatu Port Vila as quick as we can Civil Defence Minister Mark Mitchell said New Zealand authorities were watching the situation closely and stood ready to assist Australian Foreign Minister Penny Wong also declared Australia was standing ready to help New Zealand Foreign Minister Winston Peters said he was deeply concerned about the significant earthquake in Vanuatu and the damage it has caused Our thoughts are with the people and authorities of Vanuatu We are monitoring the developing situation closely and are in contact with the New Zealand High Commissioner to Vanuatu Nicci Simmonds and her team Violent highfrequency vertical shake A Port Vilabased journalist said the initial earthquake was violent and lasted around 30 seconds Dan McGarry said on X that the 73 magnitude earthquake had a high frequency vertical shake which was unusual for the area Thirty seconds in objective time About a century in subjective time he posted Violent high frequency vertical shake which is unusual for us in Vanuatu Later McGarry posted drone footage showing the damage caused from the quake Massive landslides near our international shipping terminal A lot of digging ahead This is going to impact our ability to respond the post read Katie Greenwood the Fijibased head of the AsiaPacific regional office for the Red Cross told the Australian Broadcasting Corp that the downtown area of Port Vila was full of large buildings and hotels We havent heard at the moment about any casualties but I will be shocked if we dont hear that bad news coming through from Port Vila at some point she said