Earthquake in South Pacific islands kills 14

The government of Vanuatu has counted 14 deaths and more than 200 people injured as a result of the earthquakes, a Red Cross official stationed in Fiji said on social media. The earthquake struck Vanuatu’s capital city, Port Vila, at around 1 p.m. local time on Tuesday, the U.S. State Department said. The U.S. Embassy in Vanuatu suffered damage during the earthquake and was closed until further notice, the department said. The 7.4 magnitude of the earthquake indicates an ability to cause serious damage. Americans in the country in need of assistance should reach out to the U.S. Embassy in Papua New Guinea.

Did the department provide any other details? Aftershocks followed the initial quake, the department said. U.S. officials were also hearing reports of landslides in the capital area. Flights into the country reportedly were canceled. The embassy urged those in the city to avoid entering buildings as they might be unstable. Vanuatu is made up of a cluster of roughly 80 islands in the Pacific Ocean northeast of Australia.

Dig deeper: Read Mickey Mclean’s report in the WORLD archives about a massive cyclone that pummeled Vanuatu in 2015.