U.S. authorities have withdrawn the tsunami warning it had declared Friday for multiple Pacific Ocean territories for a 7.3 magnitude earthquake 211 kilometers northeast of Tonga, in the middle of the Pacific Ocean.
The earthquake was recorded at 11:48 a.m. (Spanish peninsular time) with a hypocenter at a depth of about 25 kilometers, according to the report of the Earthquake Emergency Program of the United States Geological Survey (USGS), for its acronym in English.
Shortly afterwards, the US Tsunami Warning Center confirmed that the earthquake had unleashed high waves that posed a threat to American Samoa, Cook Islands, Fiji, French Polynesia, New Zealand, Niue, Solomon Islands, Tokelau, Tuvalu and Wallis and Futuna.
The alert remained in effect for about an hour until the center, in a new statement, announced that «the tsunami hazard has passed,» although it advised citizens of the affected territories to «remain vigilant and exercise the usual caution» if they are near coastal areas.
So far, there are no reports of fatalities or injuries.
