Magnitude 5.5 earthquake recorded off the coast of Vanuatu

An earthquake with a magnitude of 5.5 occurred off the coast of Vanuatu. This was reported on December 17 by the European-Mediterranean Seismological Center(EMSC).

It is specified that the origin of seismic event lay at a depth of 58 km. The epicenter of the earthquake was located 17 km west of Port Vila, the capital of Vanuatu, with a population of about 35.9 thousand people. There was no information about casualties and damage. No tsunami threat was declared.

Earlier in the day it was reported that after the earthquake of magnitude 7.4 off the coast of Vanuatu a tsunami threat was announced. The EMSC specified that the earthquake occurred at a depth of 43 km at a distance of 25 km from the city of Port Vila. As a result, one person was killed and the building housing the French and US embassies was damaged.