Vanuata Quake Damages Structures
Pastor Dale Morgan
Aug 1, 8:07 PM EDT
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Vanuata Quake Damages Structures*
WELLINGTON, New Zealand (AP) -- A powerful earthquake rattled Vanuatu in
the South Pacific early Thursday, causing cracks in roads and buildings
and prompting brief evacuations due to tsunami fears, officials said.
The 7.2 quake struck at 4:08 a.m. and was centered 30 miles southeast of
the town of Luganville, the U.S. Geological Survey reported.
"There are no casualties reported at this stage," said Esrom Molita of
the nation's National Disaster Management Office in the capital, Port Vila.
He said the quake did not trigger a tsunami but people living alongside
a river were evacuated because officials feared one. "That has not
happened and people are now back in their homes," said Molita.
The temblor caused cracks as long as 20 feet and six-inches wide in the
main street of Luganville, he told The Associated Press. Some buildings
and a bridge over a river also sustained cracks.
The quake also knocked out power in some parts of Luganville. "It was a
severe shake, but short and sharp," he said.
It was the first earthquake with a magnitude of at least 7 in 122 days,
said Waverly Person, a geophysicist with U.S. Geological Survey's
National Earthquake Information Center in Colorado.
Vanuatu, formerly called the New Hebrides Islands, is part of the
Pacific "Ring of Fire" - a zone of frequent earthquakes and volcanic
eruptions 25,000 miles long that encircles the basin of the Pacific Ocean.
Vanuatu lies 1,400 miles northeast of Sydney, Australia.