7.8 Earthquake Rocks the Coast of New Zealand

By Linda Ripoll

At 3:03pm Eastern Standard Time, a tsunami warning was issued for the island of Tonga which is located 568 miles south of New Zealand. The 7.7 magnitude earthquake is expected to have produced a sizable tsunami wave although no damage has yet been reported. The West Coast of the U.S. is not expected to be affected by this recent occurrence.