2LT International News

WELLINGTON, New Zealand – Small tsunami waves were observed soon after a magnitude 8.2 earthquake struck off the coast of Fiji.

The U.S. Geological Survey said that the quake hit at a depth of 347.7 miles (560 km) below the Earth and was located 174 miles northeast of Fiji’s Ndoi Island. 

Soon after, the Pacific Tsunami Warning Center said that small tsunami waves were observed. 

According to officials, the deep, undersea earthquake in the Pacific Ocean with a preliminary magnitude of 8.2 struck Fiji but that no damages or casualties were reported based on initial readings.

In a brief statement, Apete Soro, Unit director of Fiji Seismology said the earthquake occurred closer to the Lau group of the islands, 62 km from Waiqori village. 

Sort added that there were reports of the quake being felt in the central and western parts of the main island Viti Levu.

U.S.G.S. officials noted that the quake was so deep that it was not expected to cause any damage, explaining that the depth would have reportedly dampened the shaking at the surface.

U.S.G.S. geophysicist Jana Pursley said, “I would not expect any damage. People will feel it but it’s so deep that I would not expect any damage.”

Further, a Civil Defence spokesman said there was no tsunami threat to New Zealand following the quake.

Initially, the quake was reported as a magnitude 8.0 but was later upgraded to 8.2, a magnitude that could cause tremendous damage had it not been so deep.

The U.S. Tsunami Warning Center later said that the quake was too deep to cause a tsunami.

The area where the quake struck is located on the Pacific Ring of Fire – which is a series of fragile fault lines that stretch 25,000 miles from New Zealand, across the east coast of Asia through Indonesia, the Philippines and Japan, over to Alaska, Canada and the U.S. West Coast then down to the southern tip of South America.