Tsunami warnings after huge 7.7-magnitude earthquake strikes off South Pacific islands

Tsunami warnings after huge 7.7-magnitude earthquake strikes off South Pacific islands

  • The magnitude 7.7 quake struck at 1.20pm GMT today in north of New Zealand
  • It hit at a depth of six miles off the coasts of Vanuatu and New Caledonia
  • Tsunami warnings issued for New Zealand, Fiji, Vanuatu and other Pacific island

A powerful undersea earthquake has struck north of New Zealand, prompting a tsunami watch in the region.

The magnitude 7.7 quake struck off the coasts of Vanuatu and New Caledonia just after midnight on Thursday local time (1320 GMT), sparking a tsunami warning for surrounding nations.

It was centred at a depth of six miles southeast of the Loyalty Islands, about 415 kilometres (258 miles) east of Vao in New Caledonia, according to the US Geological Survey. 

The quake was not expected to cause significant damage or fatalities on land.

The US Tsunami Warning Center issued tsunami watches for New Zealand, Fiji, Vanuatu and other Pacific islands.

The region is prone to earthquakes because it sits along the Pacific ‘Ring of Fire’, a horseshoe-shaped series of seismic fault lines around the ocean.  

‘Hazardous tsunami waves from this earthquake are possible within the next three hours,’ the NWS Pacific Tsunami Warning Center said.

It comes as a 6.2-magnitude earthquake struck off the coast of Indonesia’s Sumatra Island Wednesday.

The strong offshore quake hit about 217 kilometres south-southwest of the city of Bengkulu at a shallow depth of 10 kilometres at 7:52 pm local time (1252 GMT). 

There was no tsunami warning or immediate reports of damage.