Earthquake of magnitude 7 strikes Tonga islands, GFZ says

Pacific Tsunami Warning System warns of tsunami along the coasts

A Planet SkySat image shows a plume of smoke rising from the underwater volcano Hunga Tonga-Hunga Ha'apai days before its eruption on Jan 15, in Hunga Tonga-Hunga Ha'apai, Tonga, Jan, 2022. Planet Labs PBC/via Reuters

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 (10 miles), GFZ said.

GFZ had earlier pegged the earthquake at 6.6.

Hazardous tsunami waves from this earthquake are possible within 300 km of the epicentre along the coasts of Tonga, the Pacific Tsunami Warning System said. Tonga is a Polynesian kingdom of more than 170 South Pacific islands.