Vanuatu continues to rebuild one year after devastating earthquake

"Our people showed the world the meaning of resilience, not as a slogan, but as a lived truth," Vanuatu Prime Minister Jotham Napat said this week.

As the Pacific Island nation marked one year since a 7.3-magnitude earthquake killed 14 people and flattened buildings across the capital Port Vila, Mr Napat praised his people's ability to bounce back.

The December 2024 quake struck the island of Efate, Vanuatu's main population centre, upending the lives of an estimated 80,000 people — about a quarter of Vanuatu's population.

Essential services were disrupted for weeks after the country's main hospital, dozens of schools and two major reservoirs were heavily damaged.

Even 12 months on, many demolished buildings are yet to be rebuilt and some locals are frustrated with the pace of repairs.

"After the earthquake our sales are recovering slowly, " said Ruth Vari, a vendor at Port Vila's handicraft market.

"The rebuild of Vanuatu is getting there but it is slow."

Fear of future earthquakes 'ever present'

Life is returning to normal on the streets of Port Vila.

The Vanuatu Red Cross Society said most displaced households had returned home, though many families were still rebuilding "with support from conditional cash and shelter assistance".

Foreign visitors have returned — and Vanuatu's Tourism Office expects 125 cruise ships to visit in early 2026.

Australian tourist Ashley Bessel said it was her first time visiting Vanuatu and she had heard about the impact of the earthquake before arriving.

"I think it's really beautiful here. I love the beaches," she said.

Local business leader Lopez Adams said in addition to cruises, Vanuatu was receiving lots of tourists by air.

"Unfortunately, Port Vila CBD is not very lively," he said.

"We need to bring back some life into the centre of the city."

Some government buildings remain shuttered 12 months on, and empty lots where buildings once stood are a regular reminder of what was lost.

Save the Children's country director Polly Banks said the trauma caused by the 2024 earthquake lingered for the people of Vanuatu.

"The Pacific is just so well versed in preparing for cyclones. The time you get to prepare, to hunker down and do all the right things," she said.

"But of course, with an earthquake, you can't prepare in the same way because of the immediacy of earthquakes.

"I think that ongoing fear is ever present."

Cyrille Mainguy, a structural engineer and vice president of the Vanuatu Engineers Association, has helped inspect damaged buildings since the earthquake.

"I lost my cousin here. Everything we build must protect lives," he said.

"A building code means nothing if it's not enforced."

The prime minister acknowledged the earthquake had exposed Vanuatu's longstanding vulnerabilities, including "outdated buildings, limited enforcement of safety standards, overstretched local authorities, and growing urban pressures".

"Let us commit — each of us — to building homes, communities, towns, and cities where our children can grow safely, with dignity and opportunity," Mr Napat said.

The government has signed various construction agreements, including an $85 million package with China.

Children still learning in temporary classrooms

A massive landslide at Vanuatu's main international port remains a bottleneck for the recovery of trade and tourism.

The Asian Development Bank (ADB) this week announced a $US24.4 million ($36.8 million) grant to rehabilitate Port Vila's wharf road, helping to "restore critical road access to wharves".

The bank's Pacific regional director Jyotsana Varma said "reconnecting the outer islands and Port Vila through rehabilitation of the wharf road to restore access will impact people's lives positively, revitalise tourism, as well as trade across local communities".

"This project marks ADB's commitment to supporting disaster-resilient, quality infrastructure in the Pacific," she said.

Vanuatu is one of the most vulnerable countries in the world when it comes to natural disasters.

The Pacific island nation was struck by twin cyclones Judy and Kevin — and a 6.5-magnitude quake — within a matter of days in March 2023.

Save the Children's Ms Banks said Vanuatu had not fully recovered from those disasters when the December 2024 quake hit.

Many Ni-Vanuatu children continued to learn in makeshift classrooms as the process of rebuilding schools was ongoing, she said.

"Schools were either damaged or destroyed all throughout Port Vila and surrounding communities," Ms Banks said.

"UNICEF and Save the Children set up tents pretty quickly, but it's obviously not comfortable in a hot, tropical climate to be learning in tents where we get lots of rain.

"In the meantime … children are in ad hoc facilities, which of course doesn't create a suitable, dignified learning environment for children."

What lay ahead would require a "whole of nation effort", Mr Napat said, to ensure safety standards were observed and reconstruction was done with stronger infrastructure.

"It is not a short journey. But it is the only path that honours the lives affected and protects the generations that will follow," he said.