Earthquake of 6.7 magnitude hits near Vanuatu

A strong 6.7 magnitude earthquake struck the South Pacific island nation of Vanuatu on Tuesday, prompting local authorities to issue possible tsunami alerts to outlying islands.

“We haven’t had any impact [damage] at the moment, but we are getting into providing some alerts for a possible tsunami to some islands in the north,” Vanuatu’s National Disaster Management Office director, Job Esau, told Reuters by telephone.

The quake at 9:18 a.m. was about 50 miles from Vanuatu’s largest island, Espiritu Santo, in the north of the island chain, the U.S. Geological Survey (USGS) said.

Esau said tsunami warnings would be sent to nearby Pentecost Island, which was hit by a tsunami in 2000.

The Pacific Tsunami Warning Center in Hawaii said that there was no Pacific Ocean-wide tsunami threat, even with their higher initial reading of a 7.0 magnitude.

“However, earthquakes of this size sometimes generate local tsunamis that can be destructive along coasts located within a 100 kilometers of the earthquake epicentre,” the Center said in a bulletin.

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A preliminary USGS report said the quake was nearly 93 miles deep and Australian seismologists said such a deep quake was less likely to cause a tsunami.

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Residents in the town of Luganville on Espiritu Santo said they felt the quake but that it did not cause any damage.

Dive operator Aqua Marine said there had been no change in sea level since the quake.

“We had divers in the water this morning and all have reported feeling the shake but nothing more,” said Barry Holland from Aqua Marine.