A 7.8 magnitude and a 7.3 magnitude earthquake have struck off the northwest of Santo, Vanuatu, and Pacific islands - including New Zealand - are on tsunami warnings of varying levels.
The quakes hit at 11.03 NZ time and 15 minutes later and the epicentres were located around 373 km north-northwest of Santo, Vanuatu, at a depth of 33 km, the US Geological Survey reports.
There were no immediate reports of injuries or damage.
A spokeswoman from Hotel Santo, in Luganville, said people were worried, but had not evacuated. She had lived in Vanuatu for 30 years.
"We're a bit anxious, but fine ... it was the biggest one I've felt here in a long time," she said.
"It was slow, but went on for quite a few seconds … It was very slow, gentle, everything just moved and went on. It wasn't sharp."
The spokeswoman was aware of the tsunami alert, but only through internet reports of the quake.
A spokesman at the popular Le Meridian resort in Port Vila said that, because the quake was centred off another island, the impact was small. He said they were aware of the tsunami alert and was monitoring the situation without evacuating guests.
Wendy who runs the Seachange Resort in Port Vila said the quake was minor and they had not evacuated guests.
"The quake that we had here, it was no difference from anything else. It was a two second blip."
