One year after the Vanuatu earthquake, emotional aftershocks continue

One year on from the 7.3 magnitude earthquake that struck Vanuatu, the ground has stopped shaking, but the emotional aftershocks continue.

Buildings that once shaped Port Vila are long gone, reduced to piles of rubble in what was once a bustling city centre.

What began as a normal Tuesday morning ended with 14 lives lost, hundreds injured and thousands displaced.

The economic impact was significant and estimated to be nearly US$200 million, equivalent to 17 percent of the nation's gross domestic product.

One man is still missing, believed to be buried beneath a landslide too precarious to dig through.

With a parade and vigil taking place in Port Vila on Wednesday, people are gathering to reflect on what was lost, what was learned and what still lies ahead on the road to recover and rebuild.

Vanuatu Red Cross Society secretary-general Dickinson Tevi hopes the anniversary programme will bring some closure to families.

Tevi said the memory of that day remains raw.

"There's some uncertainty, I think the memories are still fresh... there is feelings of fear."

Kizzy Kalsakau, the nightly news producer at Vanuatu's Buzz FM, said the earthquake has left the community forever changed.

She said it is seen in the way people respond to even the smallest tremors.

"We all have trauma that we experienced and it's sitting with us," Kalsakau said.

"It's no longer the same... when there's a three-point-something earthquake, we run down the stairs, we run out from the buildings."

She hopes the anniversary vigil will encourage healing.

"It will be a closure for us. We have to move on, and we have to rebuild, and we have to think ahead."

Port Vila was the hardest hit by the earthquake.

While some businesses and offices are currently operating on the outskirts of town, the CBD feels empty.

Kalsakau describes it "like walking through a ghost town".

However, she notes demolitions are in progress, clearing out damaged buildings to make way for new constructions.

"They are starting to mark the areas. So those empty spaces, they won't be staying empty forever. They are starting to rebuild again."

Nambawan Cafe owner Ivan Oswald was home facilitating a playdate with his children when the earthquake struck.

With communications down, he was unable to contact his wife or any of the other children's parents for hours.

Oswald said he had never experienced a disaster of this intensity.

"It was mind-boggling how crazy it was. We've obviously lived through cyclones a lot, we're used to devastations, but nothing of that magnitude and impact to the country."

His cafe staff fortunately evacuated in time.

As the CBD was shut down, Oswald set up a pop-up cafe in a tent, powered by his electric vehicle. This was enough to keep his staff employed and busy until they were cleared to move back into their cafe.

With so many buildings destroyed or closed down, business has been slow.

But Oswald said while it has been a hard year, local business owners can see the light at the end of the tunnel.

"Everyone's looking forward to Christmas and moving forward," he said.

"I think people can see the light coming, or the growth, the change, the positivity of the next year, coming forwards, and what can be done in town to make Port Vila a nicer place."

"It definitely is coming back slowly, and things won't really turn around until buildings are built."

For Jane Iatika, the president of the Port Vila City Council of Women, the earthquake sent violent shockwaves through families and homes.

Police responded to nearly 50 assault cases mostly against women, and about 10 cases of other gender-based violence in the first month after the earthquake.

Iatika said this added to what was already a distressing time.

"There was a lot of traumatisation for the women and the children because this is a first time ever in Vanuatu to have such a very big earthquake that has made damages to the city itself and to the communities as well."

However, she said a lack of local resources made it hard to respond effectively.

"International donors are funding this work with women against violence but the [Vanuatu] government itself is not putting any money into the organisation. That's why there is not enough focusing awareness work in the communities, especially in Port Vila."

Iatika wants to see more support and collaborations to reduce domestic violence rates in the country.

Police estimated violence increased by two percent shortly after the earthquake.

"At the moment the rate of domestic violence is very high here in Vanuatu, and what I heard, the area maybe has the highest number of domestic violence in the Pacific.

"What are we going to do if this number goes higher and higher every year? Are we going to find a way to solve this problem?

"I want us to work on a common goal... so that we can work together on this domestic violence here."

'Show empathy for those who suffered'

Mental health support is another critical gap.

Port Vila MP - and Minister for climate change, energy, meteorology, geohazards, environment and disaster management - Ralph Regenvanu said there has not been enough resources to address concerns, such as PTSD (post traumatic stress disorder) and trauma after the earthquake.

"We do have a small unit at the hospital dealing with mental health, but it's more of a community exercise as well within the community."

He is encouraging the community to come together to heal.

"This commemoration of the one year anniversary will be part of that process of healing, and we just need to pay the right attention and approach in the right way and show empathy for those who suffered the most."

For Regenvanu, the earthquake exposed shortcomings in disaster response plans.

"It's clear now that we should have let heavy machinery into the area earlier so it could lift some of the collapsed buildings and save some of the people who were underneath them. But this being the first time we had such a scale of a disaster... we didn't get the machines in time to save some lives."

He said that hard lesson prompted change.

"We do have the machinery identified now, and we just hope that the new systems we put in place will make us able to bring those machineries into any building that has collapsed much quicker than we did last time."

He said the government will be better prepared next time such a disaster strikes.

Heading into the new year, Regenvanu is looking forward to seeing the city begin to rebuild. The focus so far has been on demolition of damaged buildings and clearing debris from the city centre.

The Vanuatu Recovery Operations Centre, established just weeks before the earthquake, is now overseeing what is expected to be a five year rebuild project.

Peter Korisa, the head of the recovery coordination unit, said their unit was kicked into action sooner than expected.

"The recovery process has been declared for two years - 2025 to 2026 and then the work will continue on for the next three more years."

Korisa said funding such a big redevelopment is a challenge, and Vanuatu will call on international partners for help.

"We have to do some work in terms of proper design and risk mapping so that it help us to have a clear strategy on how we work out with in terms of seeking assistance elsewhere to support us."

New building standards are also in place to ensure the new constructions are to a certain standard to prevent them from being seriously damaged in earthquakes.

Regenvanu said the legislation comes after discovering the damaged buildings weren't up to code.

"A lot of these buildings were built using building permits that weren't properly issued for various reasons: corruption, lack of due diligence... that kind of thing."

He said government will be proactive to make sure the building standards are enforced.

"We do have an opportunity to do things better and do them right, but it's going to take careful planning."

Kalsakau said the people of Vanuatu will rise and Port Vila will be reborn.

"We call ourselves resilient people, but the earthquake is something that is not predictable. The only thing that we do is survive it, and then we move on and we rebuild."

"We are still standing, remembering yesterday, rebuilding today and rising tomorrow."