Earthquake in Molucca Sea prompts tsunami fears

On Wednesday afternoon there was a 7.0 magnitude earthquake 154.5 km northwest of Tobelo, Indonesia in the Molucca Sea.

The earthquake was at a depth of 47 kilometres.

While there was no threat to Hawaii or the west coast of Canada and the United States, the Pacific Tsunami Warning Center in Honolulu, Hawaii said that "based on the preliminary earthquake parameters, hazardous tsunami waves are possible for coasts located within 300 km of the earthquake epicenter."

By 6:49 UTC the tsunami threat had passed.