Wednesday, December 18

At least 14 people are dead and hundreds of others are injured after a major earthquake struck the island nation of Vanuatu yesterday, sparking landslides, damaging buildings, and ripping apart roadways.

Vanuatu is a small archipelago in the western Pacific Ocean that consists of around 83 islands and is home to around 330,000 people. Its islands are rich with biodiversity across their dense tropical rainforests, along with thin coastal plains and bright coral reefs on the coast, making it a hotspot for tourism.

However, Vanuatu took a big hit after yesterday's devastating natural disaster. According to the United States Geological Survey (USGS), the 7.3 magnitude earthquake struck around 18.6 miles west of the country's capital of Port Vila at a depth of around 35.4 miles. A tsunami warning was quickly announced for the entire area, sending citizens scrambling for higher ground, but the warning was later rescinded after it became clear that no tsunami was on the way. Numerous aftershocks were also reported, including several quakes with magnitudes upward of five. A state of emergency has been declared and a nightly curfew is currently in place from 6 pm to 6 am.

The earthquake shook buildings, roads, and other settlements across the island, bringing widespread destruction to countless towns. Communications and electricity was wiped out across Efate Island, home to Port Vila, and a destructive landslide near the country's international shipping dock will hamper efforts to deliver aid. Many of the roadways around the port have also been ripped apart, preventing transportation to and from the area. Hospitals have been swarmed with patients after several buildings suffered severe damage or collapsed onto their first floors, including one building that contains the foreign embassies of the United States, United Kingdom, France, and New Zealand. Over 200 people were injured during the quake, and the death toll could rise as bodies are found underneath the rubble.

Search-and-rescue efforts are already kicking into high gear-- army personnel are working with local volunteers to sift through the debris and search for survivors or bodies. Multiple people have been rescued from beneath rocks, concrete, and dirt, saving their lives, and hoarse calls for help have been heard underneath rubble in many areas. Many civilians were also trapped in their cars as the quake struck. However, communications across the region were taken down by the shaking, meaning that many officials have not been able to confirm details in more isolated areas that are farther from cities.

Unfortunately, this earthquake is sure to have a major impact on Vanuatu, primarily due to its location. Vanuatu's position in the middle of the Pacific means that its two largest sources of business are tourism and exports, both of which may be heavily impacted by the quake. USGS estimated that the disaster could cause a net loss in gross domestic product (GDP) of between 1-10%.

Fact of the Day (Reader's Digest): The small South Asian country of Bhutan is the most mountainous in the world-- mountains cover a staggering 98.8% of its total area.

Quote of the Day: A diamond is a chunk of coal that did well under pressure. (Henry Kissinger)

Word of the Day (Merriam-Webster): Lexical (adj, pronounced LEK-sih-kul)- To describe something as lexical is to say that it is related to words or vocabulary.

In a Sentence: A dictionary provides lexical information—it tells you what the word "cat" means, not all there is to know about cats.