Federal officials were analyzing potential tsunami threats to the US and Canada after a major earthquake struck an area southeast of the Loyalty Islands, near Australia, on Wednesday morning.
The ChronicleFederal officials said a major magnitude 7.7 earthquake that hit eastern Australia on Wednesday morning posed no threat to the West Coast after reviewing the available data.
The earthquake, which hit an area southeast of the Loyalty Islands, was measured at a depth of just over 6 miles below the ocean’s surface, according to the US Geological Survey.
Shortly after the earthquake was recorded, officials from the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration said there was “no warning, warning, surveillance or tsunami threat” in California, Oregon, Washington State, Alaska and British Columbia, Canada.
NOAA issued a tsunami alert, however, to Vanuatu, a nation in the South Pacific Ocean and Fiji.
At least four other moderate earthquakes occurred near the Loyalty Islands on Wednesday, USGS data show, each measuring about 6 in magnitude.
Dominic Fracassa is a writer for the San Francisco Chronicle. Email: [email protected] Twitter: @dominicfracassa