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Pacific quake generates tsunami
28/09/2006 10:48 - (SA)
Sydney - A massive earthquake struck on Thursday under the Pacific Ocean floor near Samoa, generating a tsunami that could have been destructive if it had been closer to land, authorities said.
No damage was immediately reported.
US Geological Survey reported the quake as having a preliminary magnitude of 6.7 and striking 43km beneath the sea floor about 300km southwest of Pago Pago at 0620 GMT.
The Hawaii-based Pacific Tsunami Warning Centre reported the temblor as magnitude 7.0 and recorded an eight-centimetre rise in sea levels near the epicentre.
"Sea level readings indicate a tsunami was generated," the centre said in a bulletin posted on the internet. "It may have been destructive along coasts near the earthquake epicentre."
The centre said earthquakes of that magnitude sometimes cause potentially damaging waves if they occur within 100km of a coastline.
Buildings shook for five minutes
Sefo Fuiono, a police constable in the capital of Samoa, Apia, said buildings swayed and shook for about five minutes during the earthquake, but there was no damage or injuries reported, and no panic among residents.
"It was not so strong," he said.
Samoa is a small island chain about midway between New Zealand and Hawaii. Apia is about 3 000km northeast of Sydney. The chain is split into two sections, independent Samoa in the west and the US territory of American Samoa in the east, of which Pago Pago in the capital.
- AP
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