A burst of moderately strong earthquake activity struck Vanuatu this morning.
Monday 25th January 2010
Three undersea earthquakes with magnitudes between 4.9 and 5.4 have struck at various depths and locations across the Vanuatu Islands this morning.
The activity began with a magnitude 5.0 earthquake located 85 km south-east of Luganville, Espiritu Santo at 4:53 a.m. New Zealand time. The quake was 217 km deep.
At 7:15 NZDT, a shallow magnitude 5.4 event occurred 100 km south-south-west of Port Vila, Efate. This quake was 15 km deep.
A magnitude 4.9 earthquake was reported 195 km north of Luganville at 7:27 a.m. This was another deep event, at 270 km depth.
An earthquake of magnitude 4.9 was recorded further south at 1141 a.m. yesterday. This quake was located 25 km east-north-east of Isangel, Tanna at a depth of 330 km.
Elsewhere in the region, the nearby Santa Cruz Islands has experienced four earthquakes during the past week. The quakes had magnitudes between 5.1 and 5.7 and all were shallow events.
[Compiled from data supplied by the U.S. Geological Survey and its contributing agencies.]