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Tsunami Threat Passes After Powerful Quake Hits Fiji

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A tsunami threat to Fiji has been cancelled, the Pacific Tsunami Warning Center said on Wednesday, shortly after a powerful earthquake struck off the South Pacific island nation, prompting many panicked coastal residents to evacuate to higher ground.

The quake, which hit at 10.52 a.m.(2152 GMT Tuesday), was centred 280 km (175 miles) southwest of Fiji's capital, Suva, at a shallow depth of about 15 km (9 miles), the U.S. Geological Survey said. It was originally recorded with a magnitude of 7.2 but was later downgraded to 6.9.

There were no initial reports of widespread casualties or damage.

Fiji's national disaster office issued a nationwide tsunami warning after the powerful underwater quake, leading to widespread evacuations and traffic jams.

"The earthquake caused a fair bit of panic, there are cars lined up trying to get to higher ground," Jovesa Saladoka, the Fiji director of Oxfam, told Reuters by telephone from Suva.

Corrine Ambler, a Red Cross worker in Suva, said on Twitter all Red Cross staff and most of the capital was "headed to higher ground".

At least two aftershocks with magnitudes of more than 5 rattled Fiji soon after the quake.

The Pacific Tsunami Warning Center cancelled the tsunami threat to Fiji just over an hour after the first tremor.

There was no threat to nearby Pacific island nations Vanuatu and New Caledonia, authorities said.

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    Reuters

    Reuters is a news agency founded in 1851 and owned by the Thomson Reuters Corporation based in Toronto, Canada. One of the world's largest wire services, it provides financial news as well as international coverage in over 16 languages to more than 1000 newspapers and 750 broadcasters around the globe.

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