A violent 7.3 magnitude earthquake off the coast of Vanuatu and the risk of a tsunami

A violent earthquake measuring 7.3 degrees struck off the island of Vanuatu in the Pacific Ocean today, according to what the American Seismological Institute announced, while the Tsunami Early Warning Center issued a warning of the risk of high tsunami waves.

The American Institute said that the epicenter of the earthquake was located at a depth of 43 km under the sea level and only 30 km west of the city of Port Vila, the capital of the island of Vanuatu, after it had estimated in a first bulletin the strength of the earthquake at 7.4 degrees.

Following the earthquake, the Pacific Tsunami Early Warning Center said that “high tsunami waves were detected.”

The center expected that the earthquake would cause tsunami waves up to one meter high in parts of the coast of Vanuatu.

It was also expected that tsunami waves with a height of less than 30 centimeters above tide level would occur in island countries in the Pacific Ocean, including especially Fiji, Kiribati, New Caledonia, the Solomon Islands and Tuvalu.