China has dispatched a team of engineering experts to Vanuatu to assess the structural integrity of buildings following a deadly magnitude-7.3 earthquake that struck more than two weeks ago.
The team, led by Dai Junwu, a researcher at the Institute of Engineering Mechanics at China Earthquake Administration (CEA), carried out an inspection on Wednesday in Port Vila, the capital, evaluating the safety of buildings in the hardest-hit areas.
The earthquake caused significant damage, particularly to larger structures.
"This building, originally four stories high, has lost its entire ground floor, and the remaining three floors are barely standing. Given its size, it's beyond repair and will have to be demolished and rebuilt," said Dai, speaking at one of the affected sites.
The team has been documenting the structural integrity and key vulnerabilities of buildings in the earthquake's aftermath. According to their assessment, the damage is compounded by the building's proximity to a riverbed and the use of low-strength materials, which contributed to its collapse.
"The damage from this earthquake has been substantial, particularly to larger buildings. The bigger the structure, the greater the destruction, whereas smaller, single-story homes were less severely impacted," Dai explained.
In their assessment, the team attributes this pattern to two key factors: the earthquake's mid-to-long-period seismic waves, which disproportionately affect larger structures, and the widespread use of coral sand in local concrete, leading to weaker building materials.
With no local technical expertise available, the Vanuatu government is relying on international support to conduct thorough safety evaluations.
"To assess the safety of local buildings, there's no local technical expertise available, so they must rely on international support. The work we're doing here is urgently needed. The local authorities are eager to understand the safety status of these buildings and hope we can offer recommendations to help expedite post-disaster reconstruction," Dai noted.
In Port Vila alone, thousands of buildings have been damaged by the quake, with an estimated 30,000 homes requiring immediate safety assessments before residents can return.
Local residents have expressed gratitude for the Chinese experts' timely assistance.
"They came here exactly on the time when we had the earthquake. And they're also [here] during our New Year season, Christmas season. We're thankful, I'm thankful. They're doing a lot of inspection around the residences, and also in some complexes that have been damaged. So I'm thankful for them being here," said Lavinia Vanusoksok, a resident of Port Vila.
The Pacific island nation was hit by a powerful 7.3-magnitude earthquake on Dec. 17, which killed at least 14 people, injured more than 200 and caused severe damage to infrastructure.
The Chinese government has provided 1 million U.S. dollars in emergency assistance to Vanuatu to support its disaster response and reconstruction efforts.
Chinese experts in quake-hit Vanuatu to assess structural damages
