Twenty New Caledonian children who suffered the shock of Port Vila’s 7.3 magnitude earthquake have been repatriated from Vanuatu on board a French military CASA aircraft.
The special operation was conducted on Thursday, as part of relief operations conducted by the Nouméa-based French Armed Forces in New Caledonia in response to the destructive quake that shook the Vanuatu capital, where several buildings have collapsed.
The group of children, from northern New Caledonia (Népoui, Koné, Pouembout, and Poia), are aged between 8 and 14.
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They were visiting Vanuatu as part of a holiday camp organised by their sports association.
They were supervised by four adults.
One of them, Melissa Rangassamy, told local Radio Rythme Bleu upon arrival in Nouméa that the group was having a picnic on a Port Vila beach when the ground started to shake violently.
“Children were falling to the ground, everyone was falling all around, it was panic. We told the children not to move. At the time, they were in shock.
“We gathered them all, put them on the buses, and went straight up to a higher place,” she said.
“It’s so good to come back home.”
More evacuation flights
The French High Commission in New Caledonia said a special psychological assistance unit was available to anyone who should need help.
More flights to evacuate French nationals would be carried out of Port Vila to New Caledonia, French Ambassador to Vanuatu Jean-Baptiste Jeangène Vilmer said.
Vanuatu hosts a significant French community, estimated at more than 3300 French citizens, including from New Caledonia.
New Caledonia is also home to a strong ni-Vanuatu community of about 5000.
One French national confirmed among fatalities
A Vanuatu-born French citizen has been confirmed dead.
He was found under the rubble of one of the hardest-hit buildings in central Port Vila.
He has been identified as Vincent Goiset, who belongs to a long-established, affluent Vanuatu family of Vietnamese origin.
The total death toll from the December 17 earthquake stood at 15 on Friday, but was still likely to rise.
France, Australia and New Zealand: 100 percent ‘FRANZ’
Both Australia and New Zealand, through their armed forces, have deployed relief — including urban search and rescue teams — in a bid to find survivors under the collapsed buildings.
The two countries are part of a tripartite set-up called “FRANZ” (France, Australia, New Zealand).
Signed in 1992, the agreement enforces a policy of systematic coordination between the three armed forces when they operate to bring assistance to Pacific island countries affected by a natural disaster.
As part of the FRANZ set-up, the French contribution included an initial reconnaissance flight from its Nouméa-based Falcon-200 jet (known as the Gardian) at daybreak on Wednesday, mostly to assess the Bauerfield airport.
Port Vila is only 500km away from Nouméa.
Later that day, a French PUMA helicopter transported emergency relief and personnel (including experts in buildings structural assessment, telecom and essential supplies such as water and electricity) to Port Vila to further assess the situation.
The small military CASA aircraft also operated a number of rotations between Nouméa and Port Vila, bringing more relief supplies (including food rations, water, and IT equipment) and returning with evacuees.
The French High Commission also said if needed, a Nouméa-based surveillance frigate Vendémiaire and the overseas assistance vessel d’Entrecasteaux were placed on stand-by mode “ready to set sail from Nouméa to Vanuatu within 72 and 96 hours, respectively”.
Embassies ‘flattened’
Following the Tuesday quake, four embassies in Port Vila (New Zealand, United Kingdom, the United States and France), all under the same roof, had been temporarily relocated to their respective chiefs of mission.
Their offices, once located in a three-storey building, collapsed and were “flattened”, the French ambassador said.
Vanuatu’s caretaker Prime Minister Charlot Salwaï has announced a state of emergency at least until Christmas and the Vanuatu snap election has been postponed from January 14 to 16.
This article is republished under a community partnership agreement with RNZ.
