8.1 magnitude earthquake strikes northwest of Vanuatu

Reuters (Link) (October 7, 2009)

An 8.1 magnitude earthquake struck off the northwest of Santo, Vanuatu, the U.S. Geological Survey said on Wednesday.

The epicenter of the quake was located 232 miles north-northwest of Santo, Vanuatu, at a depth of 20.5 miles, the agency said.

There were no immediate reports of injuries or damage and no tsunami warning was issued.

Follow-up: The Australian (Link) (October 8, 2009)

A second major earthquake has hit Vanuatu, this time recording a magnitude of 7.3 on the Richter scale.

The US Geological Survey reports the second quake struck 330km north-west of Santo, almost on top of the original 7.8 quake which struck at 09:08 AEDT.

The second quake struck 10 minutes later at a depth of 35km.