Updated at 2:52 p.m., Sunday, September 30, 2007
Two earthquakes rock New Zealand's Auckland Islands
Advertiser Staff and News Services
A 7.3 magnitude earthquake struck near the Auckland Islands of New Zealand at 7:23 p.m. Saturday night Hawai'i time, the U.S. Geological Survey said.The same area was hit by a second substantial temblor at 11:47 p.m. Hawai'i time. It was assigned a preliminary magnitude of 6.6.
Following the first quake, the Australian Government Bureau of Meteorology issued a tsunami warning for the southeastern coastal communities of Tasmania, the island state south of the mainland. There's no significant threat to the coastal communities of Victoria or New South Wales, according to the bureau.
There is "no destructive widespread tsunami threat," the Pacific Tsunami Warning Center in Hawai'i said in an e-mail, adding that earthquakes of this size may trigger local tsunami that can be destructive to coasts within 100 kilometers of the epicenter.
The quake struck about 1,204 kilometers (771 miles) southwest of Wellington at a depth of 18 kilometers, the agency said.
There were no immediate reports of casualties or damage.
