SYDNEY, (Reuters) – Undersea earthquakes caused panic in the South Pacific yesterday, sending islanders fleeing to higher ground on fears of a second devastating tsunami in as many weeks, but the wave proved to be tiny and harmless.
The Pacific Tsunami Warning Center issued a tsunami warning for the entire southwest Pacific, which included island resorts and Australia, New Zealand and Indonesia, after the quakes struck beneath the seas between Vanuatu and the Solomon Islands.
Hawaii and the Philippines were placed on tsunami watch.
The Center cancelled its warning after a 4 cm tsunami was recorded at Lunganville on Espiritu Santo island in Vanuatu.
But with memories still fresh of a destructive tsunami last week that killed some 150 people in American Samoa and Samoa, many islanders panicked when the quake hit and tsunami warnings were issued in each nation.
