New Delhi: India Thursday offered $500,000 (Rs 4.3 crore) in rehabilitation assistance to Vanuatu, following the 7.4 magnitude earthquake that struck off the coast of its capital city Port Vila on 17 December.
“As a close friend and partner under the Forum for India-Pacific Islands Cooperation (FIPIC) and as a gesture of solidarity with the friendly people of Vanuatu, Government of India extends a relief assistance of USD 500,000 to support relief, rehabilitation and reconstruction efforts,” the Ministry of External Affairs (MEA) said in a statement.
At least 14 people are reported to have been killed in the earthquake and 250 others injured. Multiple landslides were triggered across the island nation, damaging its international shipping terminal in Port Vila, as well as its international airport. A tsunami damaged submarine cables providing internet connectivity to the island nation.
According to the United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA), around 2,435 individuals remained displaced a week after the earthquake, while close to 300 aftershocks were felt.
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“India has firmly stood by Vanuatu during times of difficulty and devastation caused by natural disasters. An important pillar of India’s Indo-Pacific Oceans’ Initiative (IPOI)… is disaster risk reduction and management. India is committed to Humanitarian Assistance and Disaster Relief (HADR) and continues to be a responsible and steadfast responder in the region,” added the MEA statement.
In recent years, India has looked to the Pacific Island countries, offering aid for quick impact projects and attempting to be a first responder to natural disasters in the region.
In 2014, the Indian government along with 14 Pacific Island nations—Fiji, Papua New Guinea, Vanuatu, Tuvalu, Kiribati, Marshall Islands, Nauru, Niue, Samoa, Solomon Islands, Palau, Tonga, Cook Islands and Federated States of Micronesia—announced the Forum for India-Pacific Islands Cooperation (FIPIC), as a framework for ties.
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Since its inception, there have been three summits of the forum, with the last one in May 2023, hosted by Papua New Guinea, which Prime Minister Narendra Modi attended.
At the summit, Modi announced a number of projects across the 14 countries, including a super-speciality cardiology hospital in Fiji and sea ambulances to all the countries part of FIPIC.
China has also been very active in the region, with Beijing sending at least 35 tonnes of emergency relief supplies to Vanuatu, which arrived Thursday. The aid includes tents, folding beds, water purifiers and medical equipment.
Beijing has also sent a “post-disaster assessment engineering team” to Vanuatu to assist in disaster relief efforts, Mao Ning, a spokesperson for the Chinese foreign ministry, said at a press briefing Thursday.
India along with its partners in the Quad—Australia, Japan and the US—has been looking to coordinate in humanitarian assistance and disaster relief efforts in the region, especially since China’s outreach to the Pacific Island nations.
In 2022, the foreign ministers of the Quad countries had agreed to guidelines for HADR activities in the Indo-Pacific region, highlighting its intent to coordinate relief efforts.
(Edited by Nida Fatima Siddiqui)
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