TSUNAMI PANIC
Huge 7.1-magnitude earthquake strikes near Tonga sparking tsunami warning in Pacific ten months after volcano disaster
A MASSIVE earthquake has struck the Pacific Ocean sparking a tsunami warning amid fears of fresh disaster for the nearby island nations.
The 7.1 magnitude tremor rocked the sea around 130 miles south-east of Tonga.
2
2
Tsunami warnings have been issued for American Samoa, according to the Pacific Tsunami Warning Center (PTWC).
Hazardous tsunami waves from the earthquake are possible within 300 km of the epicenter along the coasts of Niue and Tonga, it added.
USGS said the quake was at a depth of 10 km.
Footage from Tonga shared on social media shows tsunami sirens blaring as people desperately head for high ground.
READ MORE ON WORLD NEWS
It comes just months after an "unprecedented disaster" which saw entire island wiped out by a tsunami in January.
"Currently moving inland and to higher ground. Keep safe, drive safely, and look out for one another please," one resident said on Twitter.
"I thought I’d never have to relive another."
Tonga is located just 37 miles from the so-called ";Ring of Fire" - a highly geologically active line of tectonic plates surrounding the Pacific.
Most read in News
The Ring is known for fierce earthquakes and active volcanos as the plates that make up the surface of the Earth crash into each other.
Another added: "Tonga just experienced an earthquake & the tsunami warning siren has been going off since.
"Never knew trauma like I do now,"
Ten months ago lush green parts of Tonga turned brown and houses were flattened after the massive a volcano eruption on January 15.
The enormous explosion - hundreds of times more powerful than the nukes dropped on Hiroshima - ripped through the undersea lava spout of Hunga Tonga–Hunga Haʻapai.
With a blast that could seen from space, it triggered tsunamis as high as 90 metres tall which swept across the Pacific.
Mega-waves crashed into Tonga, Fiji, American Samoa, Vanuatu, and along the Pacific Rim.
Damage was reported as far away as New Zealand, Japan, the United States, the Russian Far East, Chile, and Peru.
It was the most powerful volcano eruption since the explosion that ripped apart Krakatoa in 1883.
READ MORE SUN STORIES
Topics