Huge 6.6-magnitude earthquake strikes near Australian island

An island between Australia and Antarctica was rocked by a magnitude 6.6 earthquake.

A tremor 10 km underground was recorded west of Macquarie Island in the South Pacific Ocean just before 7 p.m. Sunday.

The Bureau of Meteorology said there was no threat of a tsunami for Australia.

No aftershock has been recorded so far.

No one lives within 100 km of the impact of the earthquake.

Located 1,600 km southeast of Tasmania, Macquarie Island is home to the Australian Antarctic Division station, which is manned year round.

It has been a UNESCO World Heritage Site since 1997.

The island experienced an 8.2 magnitude earthquake in 1989, the largest intra-oceanic earthquake of the 20th century, and also recorded an 8.1 magnitude earthquake in 2004.

Macquarie Island (pictured) is home to the Australian Antarctic Division station

Professor of Marine Geophysicist Mike Coffin of the Institute for Marine and Antarctic Studies at the University of Tasmania recently called for plans to modernize Australia’s Antarctic Division station to be delayed until the risk of a tsunami. be better understood.

He expressed concern that the tsunami risk for the station due to submarine landslides is “unrated†despite the island’s “highly active tectonic environmentâ€.

Professor Coffin, “the elevation of a modernized scientific research station” should be “confirmed or adjusted” so that it is appropriate to “mitigate the risks of tsunami and the risks resulting from both the waste of submarine mass and earthquakes “.

“They have tsunami warning systems on the island against earthquakes, but landslides are not necessarily triggered by earthquakes, landslides can just happen on their own.” , he told the ABC.

“So an earthquake monitor might not tell you when a tsunami is going to occur on the island.”

Australia no tsunami threat after magnitude 6.6 earthquake off Macquarie Island