A strong earthquake magnitude 7.0 (as recorded by theUSGS) He shook theTonga Archipelago In Polynesia, consisting of over 170 islands in the southern Pacific Ocean, Monday March 31st At 01:18 Local time (2:18 pm on Sunday in Italy) with an alert tsunami issued following the earthquake and then returned. THE’epicenter of the earthquake was located in open seanear the Ha’apai islands, a 162 km from Nukuʻalofa, the capital of Tonga, and a depth of 29 km.
Following the earthquake, the Pacific Tsunami Warning Center of Hawaii has issued an alert tsunamiwarning of the possible formation of dangerous waves. However, the alert was subsequently revoked, once the risk is excluded. As reported by the National News website Talanoa or Tongathe alarm sirens They were activated at 01:18 in the morning, inducing the residents of the various islands (which together count just over 100,000 inhabitants) to evacuate towards higher areas led by the police and firefighters. Fortunately, no large immediate damage was reported and the inhabitants of the Ha’apai archipelago were able to return to their homes.
Some buildings have reported damage, whose entity is still to be defined, and several have occurred Establishment shocksincluding one of magnitude 6.2. At the moment, There are no victimsand the authorities continue the damage assessments and invite the population to caution due to persistent shocks.
This seismic event was caused by movement of busty plaquesin particular from subduction from the Pacific plate under the Australian plaque along an inverse fault. The region is known for his high seismic activitycharacterized by frequent earthquakes of strong intensity, and the risk of tsunami represents one of the main concerns.
Tonga, in fact, is not new to catastrophic events. January 15th 2022a powerful explosive eruption volcano Hunga Tonga-Hunga Ha’apai has generated tsunami oceanic with waves up to 22 meters And it has projected volcanic materials and gas in the stratosphere for about 11 hours. This event, with an epicenter about 65 km from TontataPu, damaged buildings and caused 4 deaths to Tonga.
