Powerful quake strikes the Atlantic Ocean off Africa, no tsunami alert

USPA News - A powerful and shallow earthquake struck the Atlantic Ocean far south of Africa on early Tuesday morning, but no tsunami was generated and the tremor was centered too far from land to have caused any damage, seismologists said. The 6.9-magnitude earthquake at 4:57 a.m. local time (0357 GMT) was centered in the South Atlantic Ocean about 364 kilometers (226 miles) east-northeast of the uninhabited Norwegian island of Bouvet, or about 2,279 kilometers (1,416 miles) south-southwest of Hermanus in South Africa.

It struck about 11.7 kilometers (7.3 miles) deep, making it a shallow earthquake, according to the U.S. Geological Survey (USGS). The Pacific Tsunami Warning Center initially cautioned that the earthquake had the potential to generate a local tsunami that could have affected coastlines in the region, but no tsunami warnings or watches were issued. As of late Tuesday afternoon, no unusual sea level changes were observed anywhere. "A destructive widespread tsunami threat does not exist based on historical earthquake and tsunami data," the center said in a bulletin. The Atlantic Ocean south of Africa is regularly rattled by moderate earthquakes, but tremors exceeding magnitude 6 are rare. A moderate to strong earthquake struck near Bouvet Island in February 2006, causing the foundation of a scientific station there to weaken, eventually leading to its loss in a winter storm.