Saturday, May 14, 2011
Magnitude 6.8 Quake Shakes South Pacific
There were no immediate reports of casualties or damage Tuesday morning following a 6.8 magnitude earthquake that struck beneath the floor of the South Pacific Ocean.
The powerful temblor rocked the sea floor between New Caledonia and Vanuatu shortly before 5 a.m. EDT Tuesday. The epicenter was about 170 miles south of Port Vila, Vanuatu, and 180 miles northeast of Noumea, New Caledonia, at a focal depth of 16.5 miles.
Initially, the USGS had estimated the quake magnitude at 7.1, but this was later adjusted lower.
The Pacific Tsunami Warning Center, following the quake, stated that no destructive widespread tsunami threat exists in the aftermath of this quake. However, they did say that locally destructive tsunami can result from quakes of this size along coasts within about 100 km, or 60 miles, of the epicenter.
Nearest land to the epicenter would be a few of the smaller Loyalty Islands, New Caledonia, and those of southern Vanuata, being about 80 to 90 miles distant.Accuweather
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