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Tsunami warning lifted for coasts of Vanuatu and New Caledonia after magnitude-7.1 earthquake rocks the Pacific

A magnitude-7.1 earthquake struck off the coast of the Pacific island nation Vanuatu late on Thursday, but a tsunami threat has passed and there have been no immediate reports of damage.

The offshore quake hit at 11:56pm at a depth of 48 kilometres, around 120 kilometres south of the town of Isangel and 340 kilometres from the capital Port Vila, the United States Geological Survey (USGS) said.

“There is no longer a tsunami warning from this earthquake,” the Pacific Tsunami Warning Centre said after revising its initial assessment.

It earlier said that hazardous tsunami waves from the earthquake were possible within 300 kilometres of the epicentre along the coasts of Vanuatu and New Caledonia.

The quake and tsunami threat meant a short night for some residents in Isangel.

“It was scary, it woke us up as it happened around midnight,” Anna Erick, who works at a beachside hotel in Isangel on the island of Tanna, was told.

“It didn’t last long, but we were up until three or four o’clock in the morning waiting for the all clear after the tsunami warning.”

There was no damage to the resort, she added.

Vanuatu’s Meteorology and Geohazards Department had warned residents in the southernmost Tafea province to take “precautionary measures” such as moving from the coast to higher ground.

USGS initially reported a magnitude of 7.3 and a depth of 35 kilometres, but soon revised its report.

Geoscience Australia senior seismologist Hugh Glanville told the ABC he would be “unsurprised” if there were aftershocks in the area around where Thursday’s earthquake struck.

“For magnitude six or seven earthquakes you will have aftershocks for weeks or months following, decreasing in severity and size,” Mr Glanville said.

Generally, after a magnitude-7 earthquake, there will be at least one magnitude-6 aftershock, he said.

Earthquakes are common in Vanuatu, a low-lying archipelago of 320,000 people that straddles the seismic Ring of Fire, an arc of intense tectonic activity that stretches through South-East Asia and across the Pacific basin.

A magnitude-6.7 earthquake struck northern Vanuatu in November, with authorities warning that “small tsunami waves” had been picked up by ocean monitoring equipment.

Vanuatu is ranked as one of the countries most susceptible to natural disasters such as earthquakes, storm damage, flooding and tsunamis, according to the annual World Risk Report.

He said there was not an increase this year in the average amount of earthquakes.

For more information please visit: https://www.abc.net.au/news/2023-12-08/vanuatu-
magnitude-7-earthquake-pacific-tsunami-lifted/103204964