Thaindian News

By Gina Gomez
Port Vila, Aug 10, (THAINDIAN NEWS) The island nation of Vanuatu was struck by a major earthquake on Tuesday along 40 kilometers in the west-northwest direction of the capital, Port Vila. The United States Geological Survey has confirmed that an earthquake of magnitude 7.5 on the Richter scale was felt across the coast of the Pacific island nation. The undersea earthquake that hit Vanuatu was strong enough to trigger a small tsunami which resulted in thousands of residents of the adjoining area running to save their lives.

It has been reported that the although the tremors were quite high in magnitude, fortunately it was unable to cause any kind of significant damage to life and property. The earthquake which was about 35 kilometers deep rattled buildings across the capital city of Port Vila for 15 seconds, eye witnesses have divulged to the media. Meanwhile, the Pacific Tsunami Center has revealed that owing to the 7.5 magnitude earthquake, a wave of 9 inches were sparked off at Port Vila but it did not result in any sort of destruction. Local residents have pointed out that as the tremors were felt, a sense of panic spread among the people as they attempted to move to higher grounds to avoid any untoward incident.

Rowan Lulu, an employee of a hotel situated in the city of Port Vila stated to the news sources that the all the guests of the hotel were evacuated to the top of the hills just to ensure their safety even though no tsunami alert was issued. Meanwhile, the hotel employee also told the reporters that although there had been no damage, the tremors could be felt strongly.