Officials said on Monday that a limited-range tsunami could potentially have been caused by a magnitude-6,2 earthquake that the United States Geological Survey said struck near the Pacific island nation of Vanuatu.
No casualties or damage were reported, and there was no immediate word of any tsunami in the sparsely populated area.
The quake hit at 6.02am GMT about 70km north-west of the capital, Port Vila, near the island of Efate, 1 890km east of Australia.
The Pacific Tsunami Warning Centre in Hawaii’s Ewa Beach said the quake could potentially have triggered a localised tsunami.
”Earthquakes of this size sometimes generate local tsunamis that can be destructive along coasts located within 100km of the earthquake epicentre,” the center’s website said.
”Authorities in the region of the epicentre should be aware of this possibility and take appropriate action,” it said.
However, the centre said there was no threat of a Pacific-wide tsunami ”based on historical earthquake and tsunami data”.
New Zealand’s high commissioner to Vanuatu, Paul Willis, said he had seen no initial signs of damage.
”There was an earthquake, but it was short and sharp and as far as I can see there was no damage,” he said by telephone.
Mark Lowen, owner of the Port Vila Presse website, also said there was no sign of damage or a tsunami.
”Six-point-two is pretty small for us,” Lowen said. ”We tend not to get a lot of damage from those.”
Calls to the Vanuatu National Disaster Management Office in Port Vila were not immediately answered.
David Jepsen, a seismologist at Geoscience Australia, said the earthquake’s location 70km offshore and 33km beneath the ground meant it was unlikely to be very destructive.
”I think it’s too far away,” he said. ”It would have been felt widely, but these earthquakes occur there regularly.” — Sapa-AP