Sydney, Australia (BLAZETRENDS)
“The tsunami threat has largely passed,” indicates the latest service update after keeping the alert active for more than three hours and also affecting Fiji, Vanuatu and New Zealand, among other nations.
The United States Geological Survey (USGS), which monitors global seismic activity, recorded the powerful earthquake around 2:00 p.m. local time (3:00 GMT) in the waters southeast of the Loyalty Islands -in New Caledonia- that activated the alert.
Earthquake 37 kilometers deep
USGS located the telluric movement 37 kilometers deep under the seabed and 333 kilometers southeast of the town of Vao, on the Isle of Pines – the southernmost of New Caledonia.
The authorities of New Caledonia, a French overseas territory, observed waves of up to 50 centimeters on the Isle of Pines and of about 40 centimeters on the Mare Island, for which they also decided to lift the alert.
While in Vanuatu the arrival of small waves on Aneityum Island has also been recorded, the New Zealand public radio station Radio New Zealand collects.
For its part, the New Zealand National Emergency Management Agency said that “strong and unusual currents and unpredictable surges” are expected in some coastal areas in the west of the country.
New Caledonia is located near the so-called Pacific Ring of Fire and the submarine volcanoes of the Lau Basin, which is why it regularly registers shocks of seismic origin.