7.2 earthquake rattles Vanuatu

0 Comments | Deseret News (Salt Lake City), Aug 2, 2007 | by Associated Press

WELLINGTON, New Zealand (AP) -- A powerful earthquake rattled Vanuatu in the South Pacific early today, causing cracks in roads and buildings and prompting brief evacuations due to tsunami fears, officials said. No deaths were reported.

The 7.2 quake struck at 4:08 a.m. and was centered 30 miles southeast of the town of Luganville, the U.S. Geological Survey reported. "There are no casualties reported at this stage," said Esrom Molita of the nation's National Disaster Management Office in the capital, Port Vila.

He said the quake did not trigger a tsunami but people living alongside a river were evacuated because officials feared one. "That has not happened and people are now back in their homes," said Molita.

The temblor caused cracks as long as 20 feet and six-inches wide in the main street of Luganville, he told The Associated Press. Some buildings and a bridge over a river also sustained cracks.

The quake also knocked out power in some parts of Luganville. "It was a severe shake, but short and sharp," he said.

It was the first earthquake with a magnitude of at least 7 in 122 days, said Waverly Person, a geophysicist with U.S. Geological Survey's National Earthquake Information Center in Colorado.

Vanuatu, formerly called the New Hebrides Islands, is part of the Pacific "Ring of Fire" -- a zone of frequent earthquakes and volcanic eruptions 25,000 miles long that encircles the basin of the Pacific Ocean.

Vanuatu lies 1,400 miles northeast of Sydney, Australia.