Magnitude 6.0 earthquake struck near Vanuatu

A shallow 6.0-magnitude earthquake hit off the coast of the South Pacific island of Vanuatu on Monday, the US Geological Survey said, but there was no tsunami warning issued. The quake struck 63 km (39 miles) SW of PORT-VILA, Efate, Vanuatu, 212 km (131 miles) NW of Isangel, Tanna, Vanuatu (18.186°S, 167.874°E) at a depth of 35.1 km (21.8 miles)

It produced a lot of surface water activity, but no tsunami. It follows a series of recent quakes near Vanuatu including two of 7.0 magnitude or over in the past month. Over 40 quakes this year have been recorded in the area southwest of Port Vila and this could still be an aftershock from those. Vanuatu lies on the so-called “Pacific Ring of Fire”, a zone of frequent seismic activity caused by friction between shifting tectonic plates.