Countdown to election day as aftershocks rattle Vanuatu

Authorities are scrambling to ensure an election in earthquake-hit Vanuatu will go ahead as normal. (HANDOUT/DEPARTMENT OF FOREIGN AFFAIRS AND TRADE)

Vanuatu is bringing hundreds of polling stations closer to the people as the disaster-ravaged nation prepares for a snap election.

The election will be "very challenging" as many buildings that used to be polling stations were made unsafe in the earthquake that struck Port Vila in December, a spokesman for the Vanuatu High Commission in Canberra told AAP.