ISLAMABAD: A 7.1-magnitude earthquake struck the Pacific Ocean east of New Caledonia on Saturday, the US Geological Survey said this a day after a major quake hit the same area.
It said the epicentre was 35 kilometres deep and about 300 kilometres east of the New Caledonian archipelago. Nancy Jack, manager of the beachfront Friendly Beach Bungalows on the Vanuatu island of Kana, said it lasted maybe two seconds and was not too big. He added that no large waves could be seen.
An aftershock of 6.5 magnitudes hit the same area after the initial tremor, which struck at 12:51 pm. Any tsunami waves are expected to be less than 0.3 meters high, the Pacific Tsunami Warning Center said in an update.
The waves may reach the Pacific islands of Vanuatu, Fiji, Kiribati, and Futuna and Wallis, it said, after issuing a warning for coasts within 300 kilometres of the epicentre. A 7.7-magnitude of the earthquake in the same area sent people scrambling for higher ground on several islands of the Pacific for fear of giant waves on Friday. A tsunami warning was lifted hours later. — AFP
