Tsunami warning escaped in Fiji
The wave generated by a strong tsunami

SYDNEY – The earthquake in the western Pacific caused a tsunami that did not hit the islands of the archipelago. The alarm launched by the Pacific Tsunami Warning Center in Hawaii on Saturday was therefore canceled.

The wave of about 15 meters, caused by an earthquake of magnitude 7.3 on the Richter scale recorded shortly after midnight in the western Pacific, could have hit the islands of Vanuatu, New Caledonia and Fiji. “The tsunami alert is canceled”, says the bulletin without reporting any damage.

The new release cancels the alarm launched on Saturday with another bulletin: “An earthquake of such violence has the potential to generate a destructive tsunami …”, they had said from the Control Center. “The authorities should seriously consider the possibility of this happening,” the statement stated. The epicenter of the quake, below sea level at about 33 kilometers deep, was located 225 kilometers south of the capital of the Vanuatu archipelago, Port Vila.

The Republic of Vanuatu, is an island in the southern Pacific Ocean but according to reports from the control center of Hawaii, New Caledonia and the Fiji Islands are also at risk. It is not the first time that a tsunami has alarmed the islands.

The Vanuatu archipelago has volcanic origin and is located about 1,750 kilometers east of Australia, 500 kilometers north-east of New Caledonia, west of Fiji and south of the Solomon Islands. The islands that compose it were called New Hebrides during the colonial period.
(December 25, 2010)