Coast cleared for Tsunami alert

Noumea – New Caledonia and Vanuatu ordered coastal evacuations yesterday after a powerful undersea earthquake triggered tsunami warnings in the South Pacific, but appeared to have suffered little damage.

The quake of magnitude 7.6, which struck east of New Caledonia, was just 10km deep, the Pacific Tsunami Warning Centre said.

Authorities in the French territory urged people to move to locations more than 300 metres away from the shore.