The National Emergency Management Agency has assessed the information with the assistance of scientific advisors.
Based on current information, the initial assessment is that the earthquake is unlikely to have caused a tsunami that will pose a threat to New Zealand.
The large quake was at a depth of 10km, about 37km from Vanuatu capital Port Vila the United States Geological Survey said.
The US Tsunami National Warning Centre says tsunami waves of 0.3 to one metre above the tide level are possible for some coasts of Vanuatu.
Waves of less than 0.3 metres above the tide level have also been forecast for Fiji, the Kermadec Islands, Kiribati, New Caledonia, Papua New Guinea, Solomon Islands, Tuvalu and Wallis and Futuna.
Initial images show some damage to buildings in Port Vila, including to the building housing the NZ, French, US and UK embassies.A journalist in Port Vila says the magnitude 7.3 earthquake was violent and lasted about 30 seconds.
Dan McGarry posted on X that the earthquake, which struck just before 3pm, had a high frequency vertical shake which was unusual for Vanuatu.
He described it on X as "30 seconds in objective time. About a century in subjective time".
He says his wife could see a large landslide, and sirens were going off.
Red Cross's deputy head of delegation for the Pacific, Finau Leveni, said her colleague Katie Greenwood had spoken to a Red Cross official in Vanuatu for a short time after the quake before the call was cut off.
The person said it was a very scary, very long earthquake that had caused significant damage.The Red Cross building in Port Vila has been badly damaged and furniture was thrown around.
The Grand Hotel in Port Vila has been cracked down the centre.
Damage has extended to provincial areas such as Santo, Leveni said.
"Our partners in Red Cross are already kicking into action."
She said the charity would already have systems and processes in place for how to handle the emergency.
"At this stage we don't have too much idea of what the needs are."
They were waiting for communications to be re-established and New Zealand Red Cross was helping with this.
It was "gut wrenching" to be looking at images from Port Vila and not be on the ground to help, Leveni said.
She estimated there were 20-30 Red Cross people on the ground in Vanuatu but it was backed up by a very extensive network of volunteers who operated outside the capital as well.
They could help as many as 4000 families quickly and supplies would be replenished with incoming aid from other partners.
More to come...
- RNZ/Reuters
