A strong 6.5 magnitude earthquake has struck off the Pacific island nation of Vanuatu, the US Geological Survey says, but no tsunami warning has been issued.
Similar size and even bigger earthquakes hit off the coast of Vanuatu right through 2010, and there was a smaller one (5.6) in Jan 2011. Tsunami warnings were issued with most of the 2010 ones, but fortunately none ensued (beyond slight wave height increases). Apparently it's par for the course over there... It's a very active place - volcanoes & all! Googling would pick up more of the history.
Cheers -
PS, can a moderator lock this thread please? I'm planning to visit there again in July-Aug.
There was also a 5.3 magnitude quake in Chile this morning. Following a 6.3 (I think...) one there around 2 weeks ago. The whole area is very active right now.
Things just seem to be getting worse with more bad news!
We already know it is recorded that Japan moved approx 2.5 metres from where it was due to the quake.
Well, they have now discovered that the East Coast has also dropped in elevation and much of the coastal towns and coast that were at or just above sea level are now flooding due to being below sea level at high tide!
As an example, one of the towns affected, Ishinomaki, has it's central business district and much of its suburbs permanently under water, and it gets deeper as the tide rises, and it is 6 kilometres inland!!!
It's a very active place - volcanoes & all! Googling would pick up more of the history.
