Samoan authorities canceled a tsunami advisory that they issued early Thursday morning and advised the public that the threat following a 6.9 magnitude earthquake was over.

The island nation was rocked by an earthquake measuring 6.9 on the Richter scale at 5.01 am on Thursday morning, with the tremor lasting 3 minutes, to wake up residents in the capital Apia and force residents living on the coast of Upolu Island to evacuate inland.

However, the Ministry of Natural Resources and Environment (M.N.R.E.), in a post on the Facebook page of the Samoa Meteorological Service (M.E.T.) at 6.30 am, said the tsunami advisory has been canceled.

"The tsunami advisory which was in effect for Samoa due to the 6.9 Tonga earthquake this morning has now been canceled, repeat: the tsunami advisory has now been canceled. It is advised that it is now safe as the threat is over." 

The earthquake had a depth of 10.00 km and was located in the Tonga region. The epicenter of the earthquake was 424.49 km southwest of Apia, according to the M.E.T.

The M.N.R.E. initially issued a tsunami advisory at 5.20 am on Thursday. 

"An Earthquake with a magnitude of 6.9 has occurred within the Tonga Region, on Thursday 11th May at 05.01 am (Samoan Local Time). The depth is 10 kilometres and the distance in kilometres 422 km South West of Apia. The next bulletin will be issued in the next 30 minutes."

A Saleimoa resident, who spoke on condition of anonymity, told the Samoa Observer at 6.01 am Thursday that about 10 families have evacuated from the coast to Aleisa in the hinterlands of Upolu Island.

He said there were no sirens from the authorities, such as Samoa Fire and Emergency Services (S.F.E.S.A.) to alert the residents of the tsunami advisory issued by the authorities. 

"It surprised me that some families are still asleep, even our pulenu'u (village mayor) didn’t ring the bell, we are not hearing any sirens from emergency services like S.F.E.S.A.," the villager said. 

"Almost all families are complaining that they are unaware. I am so surprised that the earthquake was so strong and some families didn’t feel it and wake up but we have now evacuated to Aleisa."