Today's Edition
(Agencies)
A magnitude 7 earthquake struck Tonga on Sunday, the German Research Centre for Geosciences (GFZ) said. The quake was at a depth of 16 km, GFZ said.
GFZ had earlier pegged the earthquake at 6.6.
Hazardous tsunami waves from this earthquake are possible within 300 km of the epicenter along the coasts of Tonga, the Pacific Tsunami Warning System said.
The Tonga national disaster agency issued a warning to residents to stay away from beaches and shorelines.
"People living on the low lying coast areas please move to higher grounds or further in land," the Tonga National Disaster Risk Management Office wrote on Facebook.
Tonga is a Polynesian kingdom of more than 170 South Pacific islands.
Earthquakes are common in Tonga, home to around 100,000 people that straddles the seismic Ring of Fire.
The Ring of Fire is an arc of intense tectonic activity that stretches through Southeast Asia and across the Pacific basin.
