WELLINGTON, New Zealand: A 7.3-magnitude earthquake struck near New Zealand’s remote and largely uninhabited Kermadec Islands early Tuesday, New Zealand’s GNS Science geological agency said.
New Zealand’s Ministry of Civil Defense issued no tsunami warning following the quake, while the Pacific Tsunami Warning Center said in a bulletin on its Web site that “no destructive widespread tsunami threat exists based on historical earthquake and tsunami data” for the Kermadec area.
Only the Kermadec’s Raoul Island is inhabited, with up to six New Zealand Department of Conservation workers living there at any time.
The Hong Kong Observatory said the quake was centered about 630 miles south-southwest of Nuku’alofa, Tonga and was recorded in Hong Kong at 4:19 a.m. Tuesday, New Zealand time.
The U.S. Geological Survey put the magnitude of the quake at 7.0 and said its depth was 12.5 miles.
