On the morning of December 17, a 7.3 magnitude earthquake struck off the coast of Vanuatu in the Pacific Ocean.
This was reported by the US Geological Survey.
The tremors were registered 30 kilometers west of the Vanuatu capital Port Vila. The epicenter of the earthquake was at a depth of 57 kilometers.
Reuters reports that buildings and cars were damaged in Port Vila. In particular, the building housing the embassies of the US, UK, France and New Zealand was severely damaged. Local TV channel VBTC reported that one person was trapped under the rubble. There were communications outages across the country.
At least one person may have died in the earthquake, local journalist Dan McGarry reported, citing police. There are also injuries. Reuters noted that it was unable to get a comment from authorities about the number of injuries and deaths from the earthquake.
"This region, where tectonic plates converge, is one of the most seismically active zones in the world. The earthquakeʼs hypocenter was quite deep, almost 57 kilometers, which means there was no tsunami. However, the island experienced very strong shaking, which probably led to destruction," said Professor Megan Miller from the Research School of Earth Sciences at the Australian National University.
A tsunami warning was issued after the earthquake, but it was later canceled. Authorities in the United States, Australia, and New Zealand said there was no tsunami threat to their territories.
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