Sydney (Australia), March 3. The government of Vanuatu has declared a state of emergency after the passage this week of tropical cyclone Judy, which devastated several regions of the island nation, which was rocked on Friday by a strong earthquake of magnitude 6.5 in the off its northwest coast and faces the threat of another cyclone.
Prime Minister Ishmael Kalsakau last night announced the emergency declaration that governs all the islands affected by Judy, where this cyclone has caused power and communications blackouts, as well as hundreds of evacuees, reported today the Vanuatu Daily Post on its Facebook page today. .
“Our officials are working tirelessly to try to assess the impact of Cyclone (Judy) in all the provinces of the country. At this moment they are still preparing an official report that we can work on and that will allow our development partners to appreciate the level of help we will need,” Kalsakau said in a statement reported by Radio New Zealand.
As authorities and residents clean up and attempt to assess the damage left by Judy, which rose from Category 3 to Category 4 on Wednesday and also hit the capital Port Vila, Vanuatu braces for Cyclone Kevin today. .
This cyclone, category three on a scale of five, was at dawn about 165 kilometers southwest of Santo and 225 kilometers northwest of Malekuka, in the northwest of the country, for which the authorities have issued warnings of hurricane-force winds expected in the area.
The Pacific Regional Climate Center, for its part, warned on Twitter that the worst of Kevin’s assault, which will bring wind, rain and high waves, is forecast for tonight.
To these two weather disasters was added a magnitude 6.5 earthquake, which was recorded this Friday at 05:05 local time (18:04 GMT Thursday) about 86 kilometers south-west of the city of Port Orly, with a depth ten kilometers, according to the United States Geological Survey.
The Pacific Tsunami Warning Center said there was no threat of a tsunami in the region from the earthquake, while authorities in the country reported no damage or casualties from the earthquake. shaking.
Vanuatu – still recovering from Category Five Cyclone Harold, which hit the country in 2020 – is a Pacific archipelago made up of 83 islands with a total area of 12,200 square kilometres, inhabited by just over 283,000 people , and surrounded by 450,000 square kilometers of territorial waters. EFE
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