WELLINGTON, New Zealand — Residents of a northern town in the South Pacific nation of Vanuatu ran into the streets Friday as a powerful magnitude 7.2 earthquake shook the area, police said.
The magnitude 7.2 quake rattled the island country, briefly triggering a tsunami watch for the region, officials said. There were no immediate reports of damage or injury.
The U.S. Geological Survey said the quake struck at 4.14 a.m. local time and was centered 300 miles (485 kilometers) northwest of the capital, Port Vila, at a depth of 22 miles (36 kilometers). Three more sharp quakes followed in the same area, including a magnitude 6.4 more than three hours later.
"Some people left their houses in the town – they ran out the doors," police spokesman James Tari said from Luganville, the main settlement on Espirito Santo, the main island closest to the quakes.
The Pacific Tsunami Warning Center in Hawaii issued a tsunami warning for Vanuatu, Solomon Islands and New Caledonia, but canceled the alert about an hour later.
The center's duty geophysicist Barry Hershorn said they had confirmed there was no tsunami from ocean buoys and from coastal sea level gauges in Vanuatu.
The quake was "a little bigger than usual – for me the shake was a really big one," he said. "At the moment there are no reports of injury or damage."
Authorities in Vanuatu said they were checking for information on the quake and were pleased the tsunami alert had been canceled.
"The very close proximity (of the quake epicenter) to Espirito Santo meant there was nothing much we could do" to alert residents to any danger, said Meteorological Office acting director Salesa Kaniaha.
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Vanuatu – a chain of 83 islands – lies just over 1,400 miles (2,200 kilometers) northeast of Sydney.
Vanuatu is part of the Pacific "ring of fire" – an arc of earthquake and volcanic zones stretching from Chile in South America through Alaska and down through Vanuatu to Tonga in the South Pacific.
Shakemap of the earthquake. 
Vanuatu has been hit by a 7.2 magnitude earthquake at 04:14 local time on Friday (17:14 UTC on Thursday). The epicenter was located 215 kilometers to the northwest of , Espíritu Santo, Vanuatu; 340 kilometers to the southeast of , , Solomon Islands; 485 kilometers to the northwest of , Vanuatu; and 2,070 kilometers to the northeast of Brisbane, Australia.

The earthquake had a depth of 36.1 kilometers, approximately 22.4 miles. The Pacific Tsunami Warning Center in  issued a tsunami warning for Vanuatu, Solomon Islands and New Caledonia. They said on the report: "It is not known that a tsunami was generated. This warning is based only on the earthquake evaluation. An earthquake of this size has the potential to generate a destructive tsunami that can strike coastlines in the region near the epicenter within minutes to hours." The Vanuatu government Meteorological Office reported infrastructure cracks, and power outages, but does not foresee major damage. There were no immediate reports of damage or injuries, CNN reported. USGS initially reported the earthquake as 7.6, but they later downgraded it. Magnitude 5.7, 5.2 and 6.4 aftershocks were reported later by USGS.

The tsunami warning was cancelled an hour after it was issued. Geophysicist Barry Hershorn said to The Huffington Post that they had confirmed there was no tsunami from ocean buoys and from coastal sea level gauges in Vanuatu. The Vanuatu goverment said they were pleased the tsunami alert had been canceled. "We haven't received any reports yet about earthquake damage," said Salesa Kaniaha, Meteorological Office acting director of Vanuatu. "The very close proximity of the epicenter to Espíritu Santo the closest island meant there was nothing much we could do to alert residents to any danger," he added.

Vanuatu is an insular country located in southern Pacific Ocean, located 1,750 kilometers to the east of Australia.