Did The Earth Move For You Too, Darling?

Yesterday we had an earthquake. That's actually not particularly surprising news in Vanuatu; they have registered 270 quakes of magnitude of 1.5 or more in the past year. However this was a pretty big one at magnitude 6.0 and its epicentre was near the Malakula town of Norsup, only about 40 miles from us.

We were on board when the quake occurred and it was a genuinely odd feeling. It was as though a heavy, rather out-of-balance engine had been started deep in Maunie's keel and we felt the vibrations for about ten seconds. It was extraordinary that the shock could be transmitted through 12 metres of water. The surface remained calm and were very relieved that the water level didn't suddenly change (a warning sign of an approaching tsunami).

When we went ashore for later that day, the staff at the resort said they had felt the quake but there was no damage and, with our limited internet here, we haven't found any details of damage closer to the epicentre. Hopefully it was deep enough, at 36km, to have been relatively benign.