NOUMEA – New Caledonia lifted its tsunami warning to citizens after a 7.7-magnitude earthquake struck on Friday in the Pacific Ocean, south-east of the territory.
The quake was detected some 340km east of Vao city in New Caledonia, a French Pacific territory, according to the United States Geological Survey.
In New Caledonia, the police had evacuated the coast and tsunami sirens were activated.
Tsunami waves of 1m to 3m above tide level were possible along some coastal areas of Vanuatu, according to the Honolulu-based Pacific Tsunami Warning Centre.
In Vanuatu, waves of just under half a metre above tide level were reported at Lenakel, while slightly smaller waves were observed or predicted for several other islands, the centre said.
Ms Anna Erick, who runs a beachfront hotel on Tanna island in Vanuatu, told AFP that she decided to head to higher ground with her children after unusually big waves began to crash on a nearby beach.
She said the waves were about knee-high and although she had decided to evacuate out of precaution, other people were still watching the waves.
Others on Vanuatu were unaware of any emergency.
Mr John Nicholls, owner of the Rockwater Resort, also on Tanna, said he could see no unusual waves at the beach and had no idea a quake had been detected.
An AFP correspondent on New Caledonia said people evacuated one beach after warning sirens sounded. The tsunami warning centre warned of possible smaller tsunami waves of 0.3m to 1m in New Caledonia, Fiji, Kiribati and New Zealand.
A hotel receptionist in New Caledonia’s capital of Noumea told AFP that she had felt no shaking from the tremor.
A travel agent on the island of Ile des Pins, on the eastern edge of the New Caledonia archipelago, said she also had not felt the tremor or heard any evacuation warning.
“Everybody is still on the beach and in the restaurants,” she said.
Australia’s Bureau of Meteorology said there was “no land threat to the Australian mainland or Australian territories”.
Earthquakes are common along the Pacific Ring of Fire, an arc of intense seismic activity that stretches through South-east Asia and across the Pacific basin.
Earlier in May, an earthquake in Japan killed one person, injured dozens more and destroyed several buildings.
And in April, an evacuation order was issued to coastal dwellers on a remote Philippine island after a 6.2-magnitude quake struck in the ocean off the archipelago, triggering a tsunami warning, though there were no reports of damage. AFP
