A 8.2 magnitude earthquake struck the Fiji Islands region yesterday afternoon with the Samoa Government’s meteorology division later advising there is no tsunami threat.

The earthquake at 1:19pm (Samoan local time) occurred at a depth of 559 kilometers and a distance of approximately 825 kilometers south west of Apia. 

There were no immediate reports of damage from residents in both the Upolu and Savai’i islands, though members of the public in Samoa took to social media to express concern at a possible tsunami. 

The United States Geological Survey (U.S.G.S.), in a report on yesterday’s earthquake, said it occurred close to Fiji due to “deep, normal faulting approximately 560 kilometers beneath the South Pacific Ocean, several hundred kilometers to the west of the Tonga Trench”. 

Earthquakes with focal depths bigger than 300 kilometers are called “deep-focus” earthquakes according to the U.S.G.S. Deep-focus earthquakes cause less damage on the ground surface above than similar magnitude shallow-focus earthquakes. Large deep-focus earthquakes could be felt at a great distance from their epicenters.