An earthquake measuring 7.3 on the Richter scale shook the Kermadec Islands, an archipelago located in the north of New Zealand, on Monday, and the US authorities issued a tsunami warning.
The earthquake occurred at 12:41 p.m. (01:41 a.m. in Lisbon), at a depth of 33 kilometers in the Pacific Ocean, according to the United States Geological Survey (USGS), which records seismic activity around the world. .
The Pacific Tsunami Warning Service, operated by the US Weather Service, issued a warning about the potential risk of “dangerous tsunami waves” for “coastlines located within 300 kilometers of the earthquake epicenter.”
The Kermadec Islands, located between New Zealand and Tonga, are unpopulated, except for the staff at a permanently installed base on Raoul Island, which has a weather and radio station.
The closest towns to the epicenter of the quake are Hicks Bay, located about 910 kilometers away, and Whangarei, 964 kilometers away.
New Zealand is located on the so-called “ring of fire” in the Pacific, an area of great seismic and volcanic activity, and the archipelago registers around 14,000 earthquakes a year, most of low to moderate magnitude, with only between 100 and 150 to date. be felt by the population.
Source: TSF
