Residents of coastal land across New Caledonia and Vanuatu in New Zealand escaped to higher ground as heavy cluster of earthquakes gave a Pacific-wide Tsunami alert.
The authorities blew sirens to evacuate the places at the earliest as the waves of up to 10 feet were headed towards France.
“People must leave beach areas and stop all water activities, and should not pick their children up at schools to avoid creating traffic jams,” told the emergency services spokesman Alexandre Rosignol on community radio.
The people living at the edges of north island were warned to flee as sirens were sounded for the tsunami alert after an earthquake of 8.1 magnitude hit the coastal area which was followed by the tremors of 7.3 and 7.4 magnitude.
“Do not stay at home,” warned the National Emergency Management Agency (NEMA).
According to the US Geological Survey the largest tremor struck around 1,000 kilometres (640 miles) off the New Zealand coast at 8:28 am (1928 Thursday GMT).
The NEMA said, despite the aloofness the quakes did not minimize its impact.
“The earthquake may not have been felt in some of these areas, but evacuation should be immediate as a damaging tsunami is possible,” it added.
“Based on all available data, hazardous tsunami waves are forecast for some coasts,” said the Tsunami Warning Centre.
The centre also informed that already some lighter waves were reported in Tonga and some smaller waves can also reach out to Russia, Mexico and the South American coast.
However, no injuries were reported so far even the warnings for tsunami are lifted.
The disaster gave up an early morning alarm to the New Zealand Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern. “Hope everyone is ok out there — especially on the East Coast who would have felt the full force of that earthquake,” she posted on her Instagram feed soon after the initial tremors at 2:27 am.
