A second earthquake shakes New Caledonia. A magnitude 7.1 earthquake occurred Saturday in the Pacific Ocean east of the archipelago, the United States Geological Survey (USGS) said. This earthquake comes in the wake of a major earthquake that hit the same region.
The epicenter was detected at a depth of 35 km and about 300 km east of the Caledonian coast, according to the same source. "(The tremors) lasted maybe two seconds, (they were) not too big," said Nancy Jack, manager of the beachfront Friendly Beach Bungalows on Vanuatu's Kana Island. No significant waves were observed.
'More tsunami risk'
A magnitude 6.5 aftershock hit the same region minutes after the first tremor, which occurred at 12:51 p.m. local time (01:51 GMT). After issuing an alert for coasts within 300 km of the epicenter, the Pacific Tsunami Warning Center (PTWC) indicated in its latest update that there was "no longer a tsunami risk" related to this earthquake.
The civil security of New Caledonia had for its part announced that "no risk of tsunami is proven" for the archipelago and that "no action of the population is required". On Friday, a magnitude 7.7 earthquake in the same region caused residents living along coastlines to rush to higher places on several Pacific islands. The tsunami warning was lifted a few hours later.