Two strong earthquakes struck yesterday near the archipelago of Vanuatu in the South Pacific, Australia's geological agency reported, but there were no reports of damage.
The first quake, measured at magnitude 7.3 at 11:40am, occurred two minutes before a large quake jolted the western coast area of central Japan.
Vanuatu's second quake, at magnitude 7.1, occurred 28 minutes later.
Police on Vanuatu, an islands nation of 209,000 people which is popular with divers, said there appeared to be no damage, although buildings in the capital, Port Vila, shook when the quakes occurred.
"So far we haven't received any damage or any injury," Senior Inspector Tapeirangi Seru said by telephone from Port Vila. "There's a shaking of buildings, but not strong enough to damage the buildings here."
Vanuatu, which is around 2,000km east of Australia, around three-quarters of the way from Hawaii to Australia, is regularly rattled by earthquakes.
It is perched on the so-called Pacific ring of fire, a zone of frequent earthquakes and volcanic eruptions.
Its clear waters, coral reefs, volcanoes and pristine forests are a big draw for tourists.
There was a state of emergency in Port Vila for two weeks this month after tribal clashes left three people dead.
However, Vanuatu has escaped the worst of the rioting, gang warfare and military coups which have shattered the peace in other South Pacific island nations in recent years.
Australia's geological agency Geoscience Australia said yesterday that Vanuatu would likely escape quake damage.
"I wouldn't be expecting any damage," said Mark Leonard, the duty seismologist at Geoscience Australia.
"Earthquakes of this size only do damage 50km or 100km away and there was no land [nearby], unlike the Japan one," he said.
The earthquake occurred out at sea, within 300km of Vanuatu's southern islands, he said.
A tsunami alert was issued for some of its southern islands, police said. Australia's Emergency Management Office warned the quakes could generate a tsunami affecting Vanuatu's outlying islands, police spokesman Captain Arnold Giro said.
"We are moving communities to higher ground," he said. "We have advised the islands to be alert for a possible tsunami."
Police and emergency services were still checking the effects of the quakes, Giro said.
"It's likely that it's caused a very small tsunami ... about 0.3m or 0.4m in that local area," Leonard said.
The US Geological Survey said the first Vanuatu quake was centered 337km south-south-east of Port Vila and 1,833km east-north-east of Brisbane, Australia.
‘IN A DIFFERENT PLACE’: The envoy first visited Shanghai, where he attended a Chinese basketball playoff match, and is to meet top officials in Beijing tomorrow US Secretary of State Antony Blinken yesterday arrived in China on his second visit in a year as the US ramps up pressure on its rival over its support for Russia while also seeking to manage tensions with Beijing. The US diplomat tomorrow is to meet China’s top brass in Beijing, where he is also expected to plead for restraint as Taiwan inaugurates president-elect William Lai (賴清德), and to raise US concerns on Chinese trade practices. However, Blinken is also seeking to stabilize ties, with tensions between the world’s two largest economies easing since his previous visit in June last year. At the
Nearly half of China’s major cities are suffering “moderate to severe” levels of subsidence, putting millions of people at risk of flooding, especially as sea levels rise, according to a study of nationwide satellite data released yesterday. The authors of the paper, published by the journal Science, found that 45 percent of China’s urban land was sinking faster than 3mm per year, with 16 percent at more than 10mm per year, driven not only by declining water tables, but also the sheer weight of the built environment. With China’s urban population already in excess of 900 million people, “even a small portion
UNSETTLING IMAGES: The scene took place in front of TV crews covering the Trump trial, with a CNN anchor calling it an ‘emotional and unbelievably disturbing moment’ A man who doused himself in an accelerant and set himself on fire outside the courthouse where former US president Donald Trump is on trial has died, police said yesterday. The New York City Police Department (NYPD) said the man was declared dead by staff at an area hospital. The man was in Collect Pond Park at about 1:30pm on Friday when he took out pamphlets espousing conspiracy theories, tossed them around, then doused himself in an accelerant and set himself on fire, officials and witnesses said. A large number of police officers were nearby when it happened. Some officers and bystanders rushed
Beijing is continuing to commit genocide and crimes against humanity against Uyghurs and other Muslim minorities in its western Xinjiang province, U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken said in a report published on Monday, ahead of his planned visit to China this week. The State Department’s annual human rights report, which documents abuses recorded all over the world during the previous calendar year, repeated language from previous years on the treatment of Muslims in Xinjiang, but the publication raises the issue ahead of delicate talks, including on the war in Ukraine and global trade, between the top U.S. diplomat and Chinese