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From Radio New Zealand:

Updated at 11:48am on 8 October 2009

An 8.1 magnitude earthquake struck northwest of Vanuatu, the US Geological Survey has reported.

The epicentre of the quake was 373 km north-northwest of Santo, and 569km north-northwest of Port Vila at a depth of 33km, the agency said.

The Pacific Tsunami Warning Center has issued a regional tsunami warning and watch for parts of the Pacific closer to the Vanuatu earthquake.

The Ministry of Civil Defence is advising the public in New Zealand to stay away from beaches and the coast.

A spokesperson says the minstry is contacting the coastguard and other civil defence agencies, to put them on standby.

Tsunami warning

The Pacific Tsunami Warning Center says it is not known that a tsunami has been generated and the warning is based only on the earthquake evaluation.

The warning covers Vanuatu, Solomon Islands, Nauru, Papua New Guinea, Tuvalu, New Caledonia, Fiji, Kiribati, Kosrae, Wallis-Futunua and Howland-Baker, the Center says on its website.

The tsunami watch is in effect for Marshall Islands, Tokelau, Kermadec Island, Pohnpei, New Zealand, Samoa, American Samoa, Tonga, Australia, Niue, Cook Islands, Chuuk, Indonesia, Wake Island, Jarvis Island, Palmyra Island, Guam. N. Marianas, Johnston Island, Yap, Marcus Island, and Belau.

See also here. And here. And here.

UPDATE: Sydney - Panic spread among Pacific island nations after a tsunami warning was triggered by two massive earthquakes off the coast of Vanuatu Thursday morning. It took several hours for the Pacific Tsunami Center in Hawaii to cancel the warning once its ocean monitors detected only a 4-centimetre tsunami wave, but the message failed to reach many islanders who had already headed for high ground: here.

Climate change, poverty and ‘natural’ disasters: here.