A powerful 7.7-magnitude earthquake struck the Pacific Ocean southeast of New Caledonia on Friday, triggering a tsunami warning, the US Institute of Geophysics (USGS) said. Twitter.
The tremor was detected at a depth of 37 km and more than 300 kilometers from the Caledonian coast, according to the same source. The Pacific Tsunami Warning Center (PTWC), for its part, estimates that a tidal wave is “possible” within a radius of 1,000 kilometers around the epicenter.
Tsunami warning lifted
“Based on preliminary earthquake parameters, dangerous tsunami waves are possible on coasts within 1,000 km of the earthquake’s epicenter,” the PTWC said in a bulletin.
A tsunami alert was declared, before being lifted by the authorities. The coast was evacuated. A hotel receptionist in Noumea, the capital of New Caledonia, told AFP she did not feel any tremors.