Europe 1 with AFP
According to the American Seismological Institute (USGS), a magnitude 6.2 earthquake occurred on Thursday off the Tonga Islands. This event follows the eruption of the Hunga Tonga-Hunga Ha’apai volcano, which killed three people in Tonga and two on beaches in Peru due to waves linked to the tsunami.
A 6.2 magnitude earthquake occurred this Thursday off the Tonga Islands, announced the American Seismological Institute (USGS), an archipelago devastated in mid-January by a volcanic eruption followed by a tsunami. The earthquake struck at 6:40 a.m. local time at a depth of 14.5 km 219 kilometers northwest of the city of Pangai, a town on Lifuka Island. No damage was initially reported and it does not appear to have been felt in Tonga or neighboring Fiji.
Daily seismic activity
This area of the Pacific has seen daily seismic activity since the Hunga Tonga-Hunga Ha’apai eruption on January 15. The eruption of this volcano, about 65 kilometers north of the capital Nuku’alofa, caused a tsunami that affected 85% of the population of the archipelago, according to the United Nations. This “unprecedented” disaster, according to the government, left three dead in Tonga and two on beaches in Peru due to waves linked to the tsunami.
The volcanic eruption also caused thousands of barrels of oil to spill into the sea. This oil spill now continues to spread across the waters. To respond to the crisis caused by the volcanic eruption, a state of environmental emergency was declared. France chartered the patrol boat The Glorious, based in New Caledonia, to transport from 10 tons of humanitarian freight to the archipelago.