By Koroi Hawkins of RNZ Pacific
The number of official deaths from a damaging quake in Vanuatu now stands at 12, as strong aftershocks continue.
Commercial flights to the Pacific island nation were set to resume on Sunday, after the 7.3 tremor hit on Tuesday.
This has been confirmed by the Vila Central Hospital, according to the latest situation report from the Vanuatu Disaster Management office.
Earlier, unofficial reports had placed the death toll at 16.
A 6.1 aftershock was recorded near Vanuatu early on Sunday morning at a depth of 40km.
The Vanuatu Disaster Management office said 80,000 people have been impacted by the disaster, with the response effort hampered by damages to core infrastructure including the country's telecommunications network.
More than 210 people have been injured so far and eight had to be rescued by joint police operations.
Dozens of officers from bi-lateral and multi-lateral partners, United Nations agencies and non-government organisations were supporting local authorities working around the clock to reach those most affected.
A state of emergency for the worst-hit areas remains in effect with a nightly curfew.
Officers in joint police operations are forcibly relocating people deemed to be living in high-risk areas or damaged and dangerous buildings.
The most severe damage has been to 10 buildings most of them in the capital Port Vila's CBD as well as the Vila Central Hospital.
Several crucial bridges in the capital have been damaged. The Tagabe bridge, in particular, was at risk of collapse if there was any significant flooding.
Two major water reserves at Ohlen which supply Port Vila have been destroyed and the public water network was still being assessed.
Power was also still being restored to parts of the city and the telecommunications network was still not back up to full capacity.
Airports Vanuatu chief executive Jason Rakau said he was thankful the only damage to the airport was from things being thrown around in the terminal.
"We've had a number of different engineers come in to assess and so far what they have mentioned is that there is no damage sustained to our structure. So that's enabled us now to make the decision to recommence commercial operations."
The priority was enabling Vanuatu citizens stranded outside the country to return home, and for visitors to Vanuatu to be able to leave.
Rakau hoped passengers would be able to get home for Christmas.
Stranded passengers should organise travel with their respective airlines, he said.
