Strong earthquake hits near Vanuatu (USGS)

Striking near a group of sparsely populated islands, the Pacific Tsunami Warning Center said “the earthquake is not expected to generate a tsunami.”

There were no immediate reports of damage in Vanuatu.

Earthquakes are common in Vanuatu, a low-lying archipelago of 320,000 people that straddles the seismic Ring of Fire.

The Ring of Fire is an arc of intense tectonic activity that extends across Southeast Asia and across the Pacific Basin.

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