A significant earthquake, initially gauged at a magnitude of 7.6, shook the South Pacific Ocean near Tonga on Tuesday. This seismic event triggered coastal evacuations but did not lead to any widespread tsunami alerts.
The United States Geological Survey reported that the earthquake occurred early Tuesday evening, local time, at a depth of approximately 148 miles. Earthquakes that originate at shallower depths tend to have a more pronounced impact on the surface, making their tremors more intensely felt.
The quake’s epicenter was located in the sea, about 95 miles west of Neiafu, which is the second-largest town in Tonga. Fortunately, there were no immediate accounts of any damage following the tremor.
In response to the earthquake, Tonga’s National Disaster Risk Management Office issued a warning to residents, advising those in low-lying areas to immediately seek refuge at higher ground or move further inland to ensure their safety.
There were no immediate reports of damage.
Tonga’s National Disaster Risk Management Office warned all in the low-lying island nation to move immediately to higher ground or inland.
People should avoid beaches, shorelines, and low-lying coastal areas until an all-clear was given, said a post on the office’s Facebook page.
The USGS did not issue a tsunami warning for the region, and the Pacific Tsunami Warning Center in Hawaii said in a bulletin that there was no tsunami threat because the quake was “located too deep inside the earth.”
Tonga is an archipelago in Polynesia made up of 171 islands with just over 100,000 people, most of whom live on the main island of Tongatapu. Tuesday’s quake was centered nearer to the Vava’u island group.
A person who answered the phone at the Tanoa International Dateline Hotel on the beachfront at Nuku’alofa, which is on Tongatapu, said she wasn’t aware of any damage.
“The whole building shaked. No further damage. Everything was ok,” she said.
Tonga police did not immediately respond to an emailed request for comment.
Tonga is situated on the Pacific Ring of Fire, the arc of seismic faults where much of the world’s earthquake and volcanic activity occurs. A tsunami set off by a volcanic eruption in 2022 killed three people.
The island nation is about 1,100 miles northeast of New Zealand, where disaster management officials said Tuesday that there was no tsunami threat to the country.
