People Evacuated From NZ Coasts After Tsunami Waves Observed In South Pacific

After an earthquake measuring 7.2 hit New Zealand, a tsunami warning was sent out.

Representational Image (Getty Images)

New Delhi: An earthquake measuring 7.2 in the Richter scale hit New Zealand's North Island on Friday. This prompted an immediate Tsunami warning and authorities advices people from the coastal areas to move towards a higher ground. The Hawaii-based Pacific Tsunami Warning Center, later said "Tsunami waves observed" revealing that small waves near the Tonga capital Nuku'alofa measuring about three centimetres (1.3 inches) were picked up by the ocean gauges.

People from the coastal areas of New Zealand, New Caledonia and Vanuatu were evacuated and asked to go towards higher grounds. 

Tsunamis become more powerful as they travel across the ocean and the centre has warned some areas including Vanuatu and the French territory of New Caledonia could be hit by waves of up to three metres after three major quakes, the largest at 8.1 magnitude according to an AFP report.

While there were no reports of damage, the National Emergency Management Agency (NEMA) said there was land and marine threat in some areas of the east coast of North Island. 

"Coastal inundation (flooding of land areas) is expected in areas under Land and Marine threat," NEMA said in a tweet.

According to Reuters, authorities said tsunami activity will continue for several hours and the threat must be regarded as real until the warning is cancelled. In New Zealand, people near the coast from Cape Runaway to Tolaga Bay were told to evacuate as they believed that first waves maybe have hit around East Cape from Cape Runaway to Tolaga Bay at about 3:34 a.m. local time.