WELLINGTON, New Zealand — A powerful 7.2-magnitude earthquake stuck near the remote Kermadec Islands northeast of New Zealand Sunday, briefly prompting a tsunami warning.
After initially forecasting "a threat to beach, harbor, estuary and small boat activities", New Zealand's Civil Defence organization gave the all-clear eight minutes later.
The earthquake was give a preliminary magnitude of 7.4, but later downgraded to 7.2 by the US Geological Survey.
The Pacific Tsunami Warning Center also lifted its tsunami warning for parts of the South Pacific but said "minor sea level fluctuations may occur in some coastal areas near the earthquake".
The earthquake struck at 10:55am (2255 GMT Saturday) at a depth of 10 kilometres some 928 kilometres north-northeast of the New Zealand city of Tauranga in the North Island.