[Teareerah]

Pacific Islanders feel pressure of new earthquakes

Thursday 8th October, 2009

Thousands of South Pacific islanders have been shocked by three new earthquakes which shook the region on Thursday.

The event, which generated a small tsunami, occurred just over a week after a massive wave killed 178 people in Samoa and Tonga.

Soon after Thursday's tsunami warnings were issued, they were cancelled.

While the warnings were in force, people across the South Pacific took to the hills and mountains, rushing through streets to reach the high ground.

The panic started when the Hawaii-based Pacific Tsunami Warning Centre issued a regional tsunami warning for 11 nations after the quake with a magnitude of 7.8 struck 294 kilometres northwest of the Vanuatu island of Santo at a depth of 35 kilometres.

Two other quakes of magnitude 7.7 and 7.3 followed soon after.

There have been no immediate reports of injury or damage from the earthquakes.