People in the low-lying Pacific island state of Tuvalu were Thursday ordered to evacuate from coastal areas following a tsunami warning, police said.
It followed a huge 7.8 magnitude earthquake 295 kilometres (183 miles) northwest of the Santo islands in neighbouring Vanuatu which struck at 9:03 am (2203 Wednesday GMT).
"We are trying to get those people staying closer to the coast to move inland," acting police commissioner Titelu Kauani said.
"We have been warned any tsunami would hit at about 12:10 pm (0010 GMT)," Kauani said.
Tuvalu, which has a population of around 12,000 living on low-lying coral atolls, lies northeast of the quake epicentre.
The initial quake was followed by another 7.3 tremor about 15 minutes later.
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