Earthquakes rock South Pacific
(CNN) — Two major earthquakes struck an hour and 10 minutes apart Thursday morning near Vanuatu in the South Pacific, prompting a tsunami warning that was quickly lifted, the U.S. Geological Survey said.
The first quake, with a magnitude of 7.8, struck at 9:03 a.m. (6:03 p.m. ET) at a depth of 35 km (22 miles) and an epicenter 295 km (180 miles) north-northwest of Luganville, Espiritu Santo, Vanuatu.
The second quake, with a magnitude of 7.1, struck at 10:13 a.m. (7:13 p.m. ET) at about the same depth and an epicenter of 280 km (175 miles) north-northwest of Luganville, Espiritu Santo, Vanuatu.
A third earthquake, with a moderate magnitude of 5.7, struck 35 minutes after the second in about the same location, the USGS said.
The Pacific Tsunami Warning Center issued and then quickly lifted a regional tsunami warning and watch for parts of the Pacific near the first earthquake’s epicenter.
The first data from a buoy at Luganville on Vanuatu detected a tsunami wave of 4 centimeters (1.6 inches) at Luganville on Vanuatu, said Victor Sardina, a geophysicist with the center.
A second pulse of the wave was 10 centimeters (3.9 inches), he said. “It looks like a very small wave,” he told CNN in a telephone interview.
There were no immediate reports of damage or injuries, Sardina said.
Still, he added, “What we advise is that people living in the coastal area [of nearby islands] just get away from the seashore and go inland until we get data that the danger has passed.”
The center also issued a tsunami advisory for Hawaii, and said further evaluation of the event could see the threat alert elevated.
The earthquake near Vanuatu was unlikely to cause a tsunami that will pose a threat to New Zealand, New Zealand’s Ministry of Civil Defence & Emergency Management told CNN affiliate TV New Zealand.
Authorities in New Caledonia were evacuating people from the island’s eastern shore and from the nearby Loyalty Islands to higher ground after the tsunami warning, the station reported.
Police said the French territory’s capital of Noumea was expecting waves to hit the coastline.
Authorities had issued a tsunami alert on television and radio and asked people in low-lying coastal areas to evacuate to higher ground, said the manager at the Hotel Le Paris. She said she felt the shake but had not seen any damage.
On Espiritu Santo Island in Vanuatu, dive-shop owner Rehan Syed said he was aware of no reports of damages or injuries.
“We have the sun out and winds are pretty normal,” he told CNN. “Pretty cloudy skies but nothing more than that.”
“We felt the quake (my chair and my keyboard moved) but did not take too much notice as we live with shakes every week,” said John Nicholls of Vanuatu Hotels in an e-mail.
At the New Caledonia Hotel, guests were evacuated to higher ground, General Manager Torani George told CNN, adding that he had felt “nothing, nothing at all.”
“There is no panic, nothing,” he said.
