Earth tremors felt in the territory on Monday early evening

Pago Pago, AMERICAN SAMOA — Earth tremors were felt on Monday by residents in American Samoa at around 6:30p.m (local time). Several residents reported the tremors as lasting for about 3 seconds, but definitely felt.

The tremors have been been identified by the US Geological Survey as occurring during the strong magnitude 5.7 earthquake that happened southwest of Apia, Tuamasaga, Samoa, with the time noted as 5:30pm (Samoa Time).

The earthquake’s epicenter was identified occurring in the South Pacific Ocean, near Samoa, with the nearest volcano said to be the West Mata.

West Mata can be found in the northeastern portion of Tonga, in between Fiji and Samoa, Wikipedia notes. It is located approximately 200 km (124 mi) southwest of the Samoan Islands. It is an active submarine volcano, and is part of the Tonga-Kermadec volcanic arc, which stretches from the North Island of New Zealand to Samoa. It was first discovered in 2008 while scientists were exploring the seafloor.

According to Volcano Discovery.com, which reports on the latest quakes around the world using data from the USGS, the quakes from yesterday were identified as “weak” by both Samoa and American Samoa, with no visible damages reported in either island group.

In a public information bulletin from the American Samoa Department of Homeland Security — TEMCO, issued 7:15 pm, Dec. 11, 2023, in English and Samoan, it states that “an earthquake with a approximate magnitude of 5.4 occurred about 105 miles South of Savaii Island at 06:33pm American Samoa Standard Time (SST) on Monday, December 11, 2023.

“Based on all available data from the National Weather Service there is, ‘NO TSUNAMI THREAT’ to American Samoa.”

O se fa’aaliga taua lenei mai le Matagaluega o le Puipuiga o le Saogalemu faa Lotoifale – le Homeland Security ma le Ofisa o le TEMCO, auina mai i le itula e 7:15pm i le afiafi nei, Aso Gafua, Tesema 11, 2023.

Ua iai nei se mafui’e e tusa ma le 5.4 lona malosi, pe a male 105 maila ile itu i saute ole motu o Savaii i le itula e 6:33pm ile afiafi nei, Aso Gafua, Tesema 11, 2023.

I su’esu’ega uma, ua fa’ailoa mai ai e “LEAI SE A’AFIAGA OSE TSUNAMI” po’o se galulolo ua tula’i mai ai e ono a’afia ai Amerika Samoa.

  E fautuaina le mamalu o le atunu’u ina ia fa’alogologo mai pea I lau leitio mo ni isi  fa’amatalaga. A iai se fesili po’o se fa’amalama’aga vala’au mai I le ASDHS-TEMCO i le 699-3800.