3 Quakes Strike in South PacificPosted: 2007-09-30 11:09:17WELLINGTON, New Zealand (AP) - Three strong earthquakes struck Sunday near New Zealand and the U.S. territory of Guam in remote parts of the South Pacific, monitoring agencies said. None of the quakes caused a tsunami, according to the Pacific Tsunami Warning Center or PTWC in Honolulu, Hawaii. There were also no reports of damages, as the quakes were centered far from land. A magnitude 7.3 earthquake was registered near New Zealand's uninhabited Auckland Islands, about 300 miles southwest of its southernmost city of Invercargill, the United States Geological Survey said on its Web site. Another quake struck four hours later in the same region with a magnitude 6.6, the USGS said. Earlier, a magnitude 7.1 quake shook the Pacific Ocean about 215 miles southeast of the island of Guam, the Japan Meteorological Agency said. The USGS put the magnitude at 6.8. Stuart Weinstein, the assistant director of the Pacific Tsunami Warning Center, said the quake was in an isolated part of the Pacific Ocean where they seldom occur, and that it was probably felt on Guam as well as Saipan, part of the U.S. commonwealth of the Northern Mariana Islands. "It was probably too far away from populated areas to cause much damage," Weinstein said. Original article: AOL - AP  BACK
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