Wellington, New Zealand – A 7.7-magnitude earthquake triggered a small tsunami to hit the coasts of South Pacific islands on Friday. No damage has been reported and the threat passed within a few hours.
The Pacific Tsunami Warning Center said waves as high as 2 feet above tidal level were measured off Lenkel, a port city in Vanuatu. Smaller waves were measured by coastal or deep-water gauges off Vanuatu and New Caledonia and as far away as New Zealand.
The Vanuatu National Disaster Management Office advised people to evacuate coastal areas and move to higher ground. The office said people should listen to their radios for updates and take other precautions.
New Zealand’s National Emergency Management Agency said it expected coastal areas to experience unusually strong currents, with unexpected swells along the shoreline. The PTWC said that waves as small as 8 inches above tide were measured in the Northern Cape, New Zealand.
The tsunami threat passed within hours, although the center said small changes in sea level could continue.
The US Geological Survey said the epicenter was near the Loyalty Islands, a province in the French territory of New Caledonia. The depth of the earthquake was 23 miles.
The region is southwest of Fiji, north of New Zealand, and east of Australia, where the Coral Sea meets the Pacific Ocean.
The region is part of the “Ring of Fire”, an arc of seismic fault lines around the Pacific Ocean where most of the world’s earthquakes occur.
