A powerful magnitude 7.5 earthquake yesterday struck near New Caledonia, triggering a tsunami alert and emergency evacuations across a swathe of the South Pacific, but there were no reports of serious damage or injuries.
Authorities said the quake, followed by at least 20 strong aftershocks, was centered about 170km southeast of New Caledonia’s Loyalty Islands at a depth of just 10km.
Island residents said the initial quake shook the walls of buildings and in places turned the sea foamy.
Tsunami waves were recorded moving out from the epicenter, prompting people to flee to high ground.
The Pacific Tsunami Warning Center initially warned surges of up to 3m could be expected and shallow quakes of that magnitude can be devastating.
However, the center later reported waves measured by its monitors around the region only reached about 72cm on the island of Tanna, Vanuatu.
Civil defense officials in Noumea said tsunami waves hit parts of the Loyalty Islands and the Isle of Pines, but caused no damage.
“Reports from the area confirm that the strength of the tsunami has fallen significantly and there is no longer a major risk for the population,” a spokesman for the civil defense department said.
“There have been no injuries or damage,” he said.
Almost three hours after the quake, the Hawaii-based Pacific Tsunami Warning Center reported the threat stemming from the initial quake “has now passed.”
Multiple aftershocks of up to magnitude 6.6 hit the area in the hours following the initial quake, the US Geological Survey said.
The quake triggered emergency warning systems in New Caledonia, where residents received an urgent text message directing them to go to shelters immediately.
Basile Citre, a municipal official on the Loyalty Island of Mare, said he had been in a meeting at the town hall when he felt a small tremor followed by a bigger shock.
“The building shook, but there was no damage,” he said. “When the sirens sounded, the population headed for higher ground for safety. For now, nothing serious has happened.”
A spokesman for the Vanuatu geohazards observatory said the sparsely populated island of Tanna was expected to be most affected, but no evacuations had been ordered.
“There are no sirens on Tanna, but the people on the island are familiar with these situations and they will have taken precautions and gone to higher ground,” he said.
CCTV footage showed bathers still frolicking in crystalline seas off Noumea, seemingly unaware of the seriousness of the threat on the other coast, just 50km away.
Incumbent Ecuadoran President Daniel Noboa on Sunday claimed a runaway victory in the nation’s presidential election, after voters endorsed the young leader’s “iron fist” approach to rampant cartel violence. With more than 90 percent of the votes counted, the National Election Council said Noboa had an unassailable 12-point lead over his leftist rival Luisa Gonzalez. Official results showed Noboa with 56 percent of the vote, against Gonzalez’s 44 percent — a far bigger winning margin than expected after a virtual tie in the first round. Speaking to jubilant supporters in his hometown of Olon, the 37-year-old president claimed a “historic victory.” “A huge hug
Two Belgian teenagers on Tuesday were charged with wildlife piracy after they were found with thousands of ants packed in test tubes in what Kenyan authorities said was part of a trend in trafficking smaller and lesser-known species. Lornoy David and Seppe Lodewijckx, two 19-year-olds who were arrested on April 5 with 5,000 ants at a guest house, appeared distraught during their appearance before a magistrate in Nairobi and were comforted in the courtroom by relatives. They told the magistrate that they were collecting the ants for fun and did not know that it was illegal. In a separate criminal case, Kenyan Dennis
A judge in Bangladesh issued an arrest warrant for the British member of parliament and former British economic secretary to the treasury Tulip Siddiq, who is a niece of former Bangladeshi prime minister Sheikh Hasina, who was ousted in August last year in a mass uprising that ended her 15-year rule. The Bangladeshi Anti-Corruption Commission has been investigating allegations against Siddiq that she and her family members, including Hasina, illegally received land in a state-owned township project near Dhaka, the capital. Senior Special Judge of Dhaka Metropolitan Zakir Hossain passed the order on Sunday, after considering charges in three separate cases filed
APPORTIONING BLAME: The US president said that there were ‘millions of people dead because of three people’ — Vladimir Putin, Joe Biden and Volodymyr Zelenskiy US President Donald Trump on Monday resumed his attempts to blame Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy for Russia’s invasion, falsely accusing him of responsibility for “millions” of deaths. Trump — who had a blazing public row in the Oval Office with Zelenskiy six weeks ago — said the Ukranian shared the blame with Russian President Vladimir Putin, who ordered the February 2022 invasion, and then-US president Joe Biden. Trump told reporters that there were “millions of people dead because of three people.” “Let’s say Putin No. 1, but let’s say Biden, who had no idea what the hell he was doing, No. 2, and
RSS