Vanuatu Earthquake Causes No Damage

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PORT VILA, VANUATU (GaeaTimes.com)- A major earthquake of magnitude 7.5 on the Richter scale rattled the Pacific island nation of Vanuatu on Tuesday. Despite the fact that the tremor was quite strong and was felt across the nation especially in the capital city of Port Vila, it was not successful in resulting in any damage. No reports of loss of lives or any other significant destruction has been available as yet, although a small tsunami was triggered off due to the tremors.

As a precautionary measure, the police officials in Vanuata’s capital city urged the residents to shift to a higher grounds along the hills after the earthquake hit the northwestern part of Port Vila at a depth of 36 kilometers. Apart from warning by officials in the Port Vila, the authorities in the territory of New Caledonia which is situated nearby, also issued a warning for its residents and asked them to be vigilant so avoid any kind of damage. At the same time, it has also been reported that although a tsunami alert was declared initially, it was lifted after two hours without any reports of any destruction across Vanuata.

The Pacific Tsunami Warning Center has added that a 9 inch tsunami wave indeed struck certain parts of port Vila, the capital city of Vanuata while it has been hinted that the probability is high that bigger waves might be seen in other areas owing to Tuesday’s earthquake. The island nation of Vanuata falls between Fiji and Australia and the northern side of New Zealand and it lies in an area which is seismically and volcanically quite active.