Magnitude 6.2 earthquake shakes Pacific island of Vanuatu

Magnitude 6.2 earthquake shakes Pacific island of Vanuatu

A magnitude 6.2 earthquake has struck near the Pacific Island of Vanuatu, the U.S. Geological Survey says. There were no immediate reports of casualties or damage.

The quake hit at 0628 GMT about 340 kilometers (210 miles) northwest of the capital, Port Vila, near the island of Efate, about 1,890 kilometers (1,175 miles) east of Australia.

Brian Shiro, a geophysicist at the Pacific Tsunami Warning Center at Ewa Beach, Hawaii said the earthquake's depth of 160 kilometers (99 miles) below the earth's surface meant there was no risk of a local or Pacific-wide tsunami.

"That's too small to be of much worry," Shiro said of the earthquake. "There's no chance of anything even locally," reports the AP.

I.L.