Sydney: A shallow 6.9-magnitude earthquake
hit off the coast of the South Pacific island of Vanuatu late
on Thursday, the US Geological Survey said, but there was no tsunami
warning.
There were no immediate reports of casualties or damage.
The quake struck at a depth of 10 kilometres, around 122
kilometres west of the capital Port Vila.
Vanuatu lies on the so-called "Pacific Ring of Fire", a
zone of frequent seismic activity caused by friction between
shifting tectonic plates.
The Hawaii-based Pacific Tsunami Warning Centre issued an
information bulletin but no alert, saying "no destructive
widespread tsunami threat exists based on historical
earthquake and tsunami data".
The earthquake hit shortly after midnight, USGS
said.
PTI
First Published: Thursday, February 02, 2012, 21:56