Vanuatu hit by another earthquake as hundreds of Australians return home
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Magnitude 6.1 quake shakes country’s main island as RAAF flights carrying 144 passengers land in Brisbane and Sydney. Vanuatu has been hit by another earthquake after hundreds of Australians landed on home soil from the islands and the federal government announced a new round of financial assistance.
The latest magnitude 6.1 quake shook buildings on the country’s main island at 2.30am on Sunday after it struck 30km west of the capital, Port Vila. No tsunami alerts were triggered by the quake, unlike the initial 7.3 magnitude event which hit on Tuesday.
It came hours before the federal government announced an additional $5m in humanitarian assistance to Vanuatu. Dozens of Australians arrived home from the island nation on RAAF flights which touched down in Brisbane on Sunday carrying 144 passengers. In total, 568 holidaymakers, workers and other returnees have arrived back in Australia via military airlifts delivering humanitarian aid since Wednesday.
The two latest flights followed Airports Vanuatu’s announcement it would reopen Port Vila international airport to commercial airline operations on Sunday, offering some hope for increased aid and recovery resources. The Australian government is working with Qantas, Virgin and Jetstar to resume flights.
Qantas and Virgin are both operating Port Vila-Brisbane services on Sunday and Jetstar is running a flight on the same route on Monday. Two more final ADF flights from Vanuatu are planned for Sunday. The magnitude 7.3 earthquake which struck Port Vila on Tuesday, killed at least 16 people, injuring at least 200 and causing massive damage to the city and surrounding areas.
