A strong earthquake of 6.7 magnitude hit 75km from the largest island of Vanuatu at 9.18am local time on August 8 (1000 AEST) the US Geological Survey reported.
The Pacific Tsunami Warning Centre said that there was no Pacific Ocean-wide tsunami threat, even with their higher initial reading of a 7.0 magnitude.
“However, earthquakes of this size sometimes generate local tsunamis that can be destructive along coasts located within a 100 kilometres of the earthquake epicentre,” the Hawaii-based agency said in a bulletin.
The depth of the quake near the Pacific Island nation in a preliminary USGS report was nearly 150km.
The quake was measured at 80km from Luganville, Vanuatu’s second largest town on the island of Espiritu Santo.
