Vanuatu Quake: No Damages Reported on Pacific Island After 6.1-Magnitute

A 6.1-magnitude earthquake shook the coastal towns in the island of Vanuatu, an island located in the southern Pacific Ocean. No injuries or structural damages occurred, reported The Epoch Times.

The Pacific Tsunamic Warning Center did not experience technical flaws, but didn't warn residents about the quake, which occurred Thursday afternoon; most likely because the quake was not strong enough to have even triggered a tsunami warning. 

Vanuatu is known for being situated in a very unstable region, called the Pacific "Ring of Fire." The location is very seismic and frequently experiences earthquakes. It specifically sprawls from Oceania in the south Pacific and up to Japan, then wraps around the southern coasts of Alaska and Western United States, Mexico, Central America, and South America, according to The Times.  

According to the U.S. Geological Survey, the earthquake hit at a depth of around 15 kilometers, or 9.5 miles, in a 65-mile radius from Vanuatu's capital, Port-Villa.

The Associated Press reported the island didn't face major issues following the earthquake, but the people did feel sways from Port-Villa offices and buildings.

Vanuatu is 1,100 miles from northern Australia with a population of approximately 224,000 people, according to the Geological Survey.

"[It's situated in ] one of the most seismically active areas of the world due to high rates of convergence between the Australia and Pacific plates," the survey said in an interview with The Times.

The survey also recorded that during the early days of February, six people had died from a tsunami-triggered quake by the villages from the Solomon Islands, where they were pummeled, and that was not too far from Vanuatu, reported The Times.

The island had previously been shaken up by several large quakes, averaging 7.0 or more, in recent years, but none of the incidents have caused significant damage, according to Agence France-Presse news.