Tsunami warning cancelled after magnitude 7.2 quake off Vanuatu

A tsunami warning has been cancelled, following a 7.2 magnitude earthquake off Vanuatu on Saturday.

The quake's epicentre was around 200 kilometres north-west of Vanuatu's Port Olry, according to geological monitor USGS, which later revised the magnitude of the tremor down to 6.9. It also reported a second quake of magnitude 6.3 nearby.

"Based on latest available sea level and observational data, there is no longer tsunami threat from this earthquake to the Vanuatu coastal areas," the Vanuatu Geological Hazards Department said on Saturday afternoon.

Earthquakes are common in Vanuatu, a low-lying archipelago that straddles the tectonic Ring of Fire, an arc of seismic activity stretching through Southeast Asia and across the Pacific basin.

-AFP, with additional reporting by RNZ