An earthquake measuring 6.7 on the Richter scale struck the Samoan archipelago in the South Pacific on Monday, prompting the issuance of a tsunami warning, which has since been withdrawn.
The United States Geological Survey, which monitors seismic activity around the world, recorded the earthquake at 8:24 a.m. (7:24 p.m. Sunday in Lisbon), at a depth of 36 kilometers, having felt on the surface 108 kilometers from the city of Hihifo in Tongaand 216 kilometers from Apia, the capital of Samoa.
The Pacific Tsunami Warning Center even issued a warning for a possible tsunami after the strong tremors.
However, the alert was withdrawn shortly after, with the center finding that, “according to all available data, there is no longer a tsunami threat in Samoa due to this earthquake.”
According to the local press, So far, there are no reports of property damage or casualties.????????
The region, known as the Northern Lau Basin, located between the islands of Fiji, Samoa and Tonga in the South Pacific, regularly experiences earthquakes of magnitudes greater than five, as it has dozens of active submarine volcanoes located at a depth of between 1,000 and 1,500 meters.
The Samoan archipelago is located in the so-called “ring of fire” in the Pacific, an area of ​​great seismic and volcanic activity, where thousands of earthquakes are recorded each year, mostly of weak to moderate magnitude, and with more than one hundred volcanoes. active. .
Source: Observadora
