Time.news – Tsunami warning sirens sounded in Australia, New Zealand, New Caledonia, Vanuatu and Peru following a set of powerful earthquakes that rocked the Pacific Ocean in the past 24 hours. The tremors, with a magnitude between 6.9 and 8.1, were recorded mainly off the north island of New Zealand while, the most powerful, near the Kermadec Islands, a thousand kilometers from the shores of the kiwi archipelago.
While no major damage or injuries were recorded, the authorities of some of these states preferred to trigger evacuation plans. Coastal townspeople have been asked to leave their homes and head inland. The entire New Zealand city of Opotiki, about 4 thousand people, it was completely emptied in a few hours.
The coast guard also ordered hundreds of boats that were offshore to head for deeper waters as a precaution. The combination of the earthquakes has created an unusually strong cluster for the Pacific Ring of Fire, where the Earth’s tectonic plates collide.
Tsunami warnings have been lifted in several Pacific islands allowing tens of thousands of displaced people to return home. Some cases of dehydration have been reported in Tahiti due to the long queues of cars, which dissolved only after many hours, which have formed in the streets of the island.
The most relevant waves, just over a meter, have been identified in the Loyalty Islands of New Caledonia while some testimonies in the capital of Vanuatu, Port Vila, said they witnessed the arrival of some waves, slightly higher than normal, which they invaded the promenade and part of the sidewalk.
The Pacific Tsunami Warning Center said the threat did not end completely. “On average, an earthquake of magnitude eight or greater occurs only once a year worldwide,” he said. Adam Pascale, chief scientist of ESS Earth Sciences – so this is a significant earthquake and at a depth and magnitude capable of potentially generating a tsunami “.
The phenomena of the last few hours have frightened the people of New Zealand who recently commemorated the tenth anniversary of the Christchurch catastrophe when, a quake measuring 6.3, caused 185 deaths.
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