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Strong quake off Samoa generates tsunami threat
A strong earthquake with a magnitude of up to 7.0 struck the Pacific's Samoa islands region on Thursday.
A strong earthquake with a magnitude of up to 7.0 struck the Pacific's Samoa islands region on Thursday, sparking a brief tsunami threat that sent ripples—but no big waves—across the region.
The US-based Pacific Tsunami Warning Centre issued a bulletin saying a tsunami had been generated by the temblor, which struck at 11.52 IST between the Tongan town of Hihifo and Pago Pago in American Samoa.
But the danger—and fears about the potential size of the wave—quickly subsided, with tidal swells of only eight centimetres recorded in Pago Pago, about 290 kilometers northeast of the quake's epicentre.
"There is no danger and as it turns out, there probably was no danger," said Stuart Weinstein, deputy director of the tsunami warning centre in Hawaii.
"I have not heard any credible story about any large tsunami generated by this quake. All of our sea level readings show that is a small wave of eight centimetres," he told AFP.
The Pacific Tsunami Warning Centre had issued a bulletin that a tsunami had been spawned by the undersea temblor, sending officials and journalists across the region scrambling for details.
"Sea level readings indicate a tsunami was generated. It may have been destructive along coasts near the earthquake epicentre," the centre said in the bulletin on its website, adding that if no wave was sighted within two hours, the risk would have passed.
The quake, which the US Geological Survey separately measured at 6.7, struck at 0622 GMT about 195 kilometers east-southeast of Hihifo at a depth of 43.
