The burst of earthquake activity amongst the islands of Vanuatu has continued overnight.
Eight earthquakes with magnitudes between 4.9 and 6.4 have struck the islands of Vanuatu during the past week. Most of the activity has been centred north-east of Luganville, Espiritu Santo since a magnitude 6.4 quake last night New Zealand time, Friday the 7th of November 2008.
Overnight, six quakes were reported in an area 90 to 125 km north-east of Luganville. Following the main event, the cluster of quakes included four quakes with magnitudes between 5.0 and 5.8 and one event of magnitude 4.9. Activity appears to have ceased with a magnitude 5.0 quake at 1:07 a.m. New Zealand time on Saturday morning. The overnight quakes were mostly shallow with only the main event being deeper at 60 km.
Earthquake activity elsewhere in the Pacific islands has included a very deep magnitude 4.9 quake located half-way between Raoul Island and Fiji’s Viti Levu at 9:43 last night and a very deep magnitude 4.4 event north-east of Ndoi Island, Fiji, at 6:24 this morning. Quakes of 4th and 5th magnitude were reported in the Kermadecs on Monday, Wednesday and Thursday and a magnitude 5.7 quake near Tonga on Wednesday. Smaller quakes have been reported near Fiji and the Santa Cruz Islands.
[Compiled from data supplied by the U.S. Geological Survey and its contributing agencies.]