By Xinhua
Wellington : A powerful earthquake Sunday hit the Auckland Islands, south of New Zealand mainland, but there is no indication of a serious tsunami risk, said the ministry of civil defence and emergency management.
A statement released by the ministry described the earthquake, which occurred at about 18.23 (0523 GMT), as “moderate” and was between magnitude 7.3 and 7.4 on the Richter scale.
The director of the ministry, John Hamilton, said that there was nothing to suggest that a tsunami of any size has been generated.
As a precaution, the Otago and Southland Civil Defence Emergency Management groups have been advised.
The Pacific Tsunami Warning Centre (PTWC) in Hawaii has stated that there is no risk of a Pacific-wide tsunami but a small local tsunami could in theory be generated.
The US Geological Survey (USGS) said the quake was a shallow 18.9 km deep and was 475 km south west of Invercargill. It was 205 km from the unpopulated Auckland Islands.
There are no reports of damages so far.