Terrified residents of Tonga fled to higher ground after the government issued a tsunami warning in response to a magnitude 7.3 earthquake off the island’s coast.
The 25.4-mile-deep earthquake struck just before midnight local time at sea about 120.6 miles east of Southeast Neiafu, a city in the northeastern Pacific archipelago.
The Tonga government issued a tsunami warning urging local residents to “immediately move further inland,” but the warning was later withdrawn.
Officials previously warned that dangerous tsunami waves from the quake could be within 286 miles of the quake’s epicenter – meaning the coasts of Tonga, Niue and American Samoa could be affected.
The 7.3 earthquake was followed about an hour later by a much smaller 5.1 earthquake in a similar area.
Video shows long lines of cars forming in the Tongan capital, Nuku’alofa, as locals try to move further inland and away from impending tsunami waves
Local residents living in Tonga’s coastal towns rushed to evacuate and head for higher ground
A tsunami warning has been issued today following a 7.1 magnitude earthquake off the coast of Tonga
“There is no longer a tsunami threat from this earthquake,” the Pacific Tsunami Warning Center said around 1:30 a.m.
The Tonga Meteorological Service previously used social media posts to urge people to “stay inland and higher up and listen to the radio pending further advice”.
Local residents living in Tonga’s coastal towns rushed to evacuate and head for the higher elevations.
Video showed long lines of cars forming in the Tongan capital, Nuku’alofa, as locals tried to drive further inland and away from impending tsunami waves.
A tsunami advisory has also been issued for American Samoa, according to the Pacific Tsunami Warning Center (PTWC).
On January 14, an undersea volcano erupted in Tonga, killing three people, covering the main island in a thick layer of volcanic ash and shooting millions of tons of water vapor into the atmosphere.
Damaged buildings after a volcanic eruption and tsunami in Tongatapu, Tonga, on January 16
The volcano, which was mostly underwater and only the top was visible above the waves, erupted from its summit late in the evening – an explosion visible from space and heard in New Zealand some 1,400 miles away.
The explosion completely destroyed the volcano’s summit and caused a 50-foot tsunami that hit the Tonga Islands and caused widespread destruction.
The Mango and Fonoifua islands in the Ha’apai chain were two of the hardest hit – almost all buildings were swept away and the survivors lived under sails.
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