People across the South Pacific were told to avoid coastal areas due to the risk of tsunami waves following a 7.7 magnitude earthquake on Friday southeast of the Loyalty Islands in the French territory of New Caledonia.
Tsunami waves ranging from 0.3m to 1 metre above the tide level are possible for some coasts of Vanuatu, the Pacific Tsunami Warning Center (PTWC) said, waves below that level are set for 25 island groups including Tonga and Tuvalu.
A 22-centimetre tsunami had been observed near New Caledonia, the threat alert added.
Vanuatu warned citizens to seek higher ground, according to an official at the Vanuatu Meteorology & Geo-Hazards Department, who said the office had received calls from people on the southern islands who had felt shaking.
Australia's meteorology bureau issued a tsunami threat for Lord Howe Island off its east coast and warned the roughly 450 inhabitants to leave the water's edge due to waves and strong currents.
"We haven't moved to higher ground and we're probably not going to," said Damien Ball of the Thompsons General Store on Lord Howe Islands. "We've been through this numerous times before and nothing ever comes of it."
Similar warnings are in place for much of New Zealand's west coast.
The United States Geological Survey (USGS) said the quake hit at a depth of about 38 km.
About 622 people were killed and more than 1,500 injured in an earthquake that struck eastern Afghanistan, authorities said on Monday, as helicopters ferried the wounded to safety from rubble being combed in the hunt for survivors.
Chinese President Xi Jinping urged leaders to leverage their "mega-scale market", while Russian President Vladimir Putin showed support for Xi's ambition for a new global security and economic order that poses a challenge to the US during a regional summit on Monday.
South Korea has suspended a military radio broadcast that transmits to North Korea as part of measures aimed at easing tensions with Pyongyang, Seoul's defence ministry said on Monday.
Indonesian political parties have agreed to cut lawmakers' benefits, President Prabowo Subianto said on Sunday, in a bid to calm anti-government protests that have killed at least five people in the country's worst violence in decades.
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