READ MORE: WATCH as tsunami warning issued after HUGE quake – VIDEO

New Caledonia sits on the Pacific Ring of Fire, where most of the world's earthquakes and volcanic activity occur. A tsunami warning has been issued for all of the Pacific island of New Caledonia, after a shallow 7.6-magnitude earthquake struck off the country’s coast, prompting warnings that hazardous tsunami waves up to three metres high could reach New Caledonia and Vanuatu. They said initial tsunami waves could arrive between 4:42pm UTC and 5:39pm UTC but warned that the actual arrival time of the wave could differ from this and warned that “a tsunami is a series of waves and the time between waves can be five minutes to one hour” and that the initial wave may not be the largest and most dangerous in the series. The US National Tsunami Centre said the quake struck at a shallow depth of around 10 kilometres just after 3:00pm (local time) about 168 kilometres east of the nearest populated city, Tadine, on New Caledonia's Loyalty Islands.
Tsunami waves reportedly strike parts of New Caledonia and northern Vanuatu following a magnitude 7.5 earthquake centered near the Loyalty Islands.