8 Sep 2010

Fiji and Tonga unscathed in earthquakes

1:00 pm on 8 September 2010

There are no reports of damage in Fiji or Tonga after a series of earthquakes this morning.

The US Geological Survey says a 6.3 magnitude quake, earlier reported as 6.4, struck the Fiji region just after 4 o'clock, between Fiji and Wallis and Futuna.

The quake was centered 155 kilometres east northeast of Labasa on Vanua Levu at a depth of 10 kilometres, and 350 kilometers northeast of the capital.

A spokesperson for Fiji's Ministry of Information, Sharon Smith Johns, says it's a huge relief.

"No there's no reports of any major or minor damage for that matter, it seems Fiji was very lucky and we have escaped without any damage."

Meanwhile in Tonga, two quakes, measuring magnitude 6.4, struck after 5 o'clock centered about 640 km northwest of the Kingdom's second largest town Neiafu.

The quakes occurred at a depth of 33 km .

A geologist in Tonga, Renni Vaiomounga, says the Kingdom has been experiencing a series of tremors.

But he says not all the quakes have been felt by people on land, including this morning's one.

Well actually we didn't feel an earthquake. But we got it from our network as it was recorded from our networks here in Tonga.

Renni Vaiomounga.

No tsunami warning was issued for any of the quakes.