Followed by an undersea earthquake in South Pacific which measured 7.7 on the Richter scale, Australia and Fiji and north of New Zealand trembled under Tsunami waves alert.
US-based Pacific Tsunami Warning Center in a statement had said, “Hazardous tsunami waves are forecast for some coasts. Tsunami waves reaching 0.3 to 1 metres above the tide level are possible for some coasts of Fiji, New Zealand and Vanuatu.”
However, Fiji Seismology later cancelled its tsunami warning, while the earthquake passed with a small tsunami with no damage to island nations in the region before authorities gave the all-clear. Australia, as well, cancelled a marine tsunami warning it had issued for residents of Lord Howe Island, a marine reserve more than 700 kilometres northeast of Sydney.
There were no initial reports of casualties or damage from the tsunami or the quake. To recall, a 9.1-magnitude quake struck off the coast of Indonesia’s Sumatra island in 2004, triggering a tsunami that killed 220,000 throughout the region.
