Vanuatu quake toll hits 12

PORT VILA, Vanuatu: Vanuatu said on Saturday it will lift a suspension on commercial flights to restart its vital tourism industry following an earthquake that killed at least 12 people.

The 7.3-magnitude earthquake struck off the main island on Tuesday, toppling concrete buildings in the capital Port Vila and setting off landslides.

It damaged water supplies, knocked out mobile networks and halted operations at the capital’s main shipping port.

Twelve people have been confirmed killed so far, according to government figures relayed late Friday by the United Nations’ humanitarian affairs office.

The dead include two Chinese, one Thai, and one French national, according to the UN update and embassy officials.

Vanuatu has declared a seven-day state of emergency and a night-time curfew.

But commercial flights, halted since the quake, will resume on Sunday, Airports Vanuatu said, allowing the return of holidaymakers to the archipelago of 320,000 people, which sits in the Pacific’s quake-prone Rim of Fire.