Deep magnitude-7.0 quake strikes off the Northern Mariana Islands

USPA News - A powerful but deep earthquake struck near the U.S. Commonwealth of the Northern Mariana Islands on Tuesday, seismologists said, but no tsunami alerts were issued and neither damage nor casualties were expected. The 7.0-magnitude earthquake at 10:32 a.m. local time (0032 GMT) was centered about 17 miles (28 kilometers) west of Agrihan, a stratovolcano that forms an island in the Northern Mariana Islands.

It struck about 351.7 miles (566 kilometers) deep, making it an extremely deep earthquake, according to the United States Geological Survey (USGS). Agrihan, which saw its last permanent residents leave over the last decade, is located far north of the main Northern Mariana Islands, which consists of 15 islands about three-quarters of the way from Hawaii to the Philippines. The Northern Mariana Islands is an organized but unincorporated dependent territory of the United States, a status similar to that of Puerto Rico. The USGS said it was unlikely anyone in the region felt the earthquake due to its depth, and both the Northwest Pacific Tsunami Advisory Center and the Pacific Tsunami Warning Center (PTWC) ruled out the possibility of a tsunami. "A destructive tsunami was not generated based on earthquake and historical tsunami data," PTWC said in a bulletin. In October 2007, a powerful 7.2-magnitude earthquake was centered about 58 miles (93 kilometers) north-northwest of Pagan in the Northern Mariana Islands. It struck about 154.3 miles (248.3 kilometers) deep, making it a deep earthquake, and there were no reports of damage or casualties.