Canberra, May 19 (IANS): Australia's Bureau of Meteorology (BOM) on Friday announced that a tsunami warning is currently in place for Lord Howe Island, after a 7.7-magnitude earthquake struck southeast of the Loyalty Islands.

The BOM warned that for the marine environment of Lord Howe Island, there is the possibility of dangerous rips, waves, and strong ocean currents, and some localised overflow onto the immediate foreshore, which are expected to commence after 4.15 p.m. on Friday and persist for several hours, reports Xinhua news agency.

While evacuations are not necessary for marine threat areas, the BOM urged people in these areas to get out of the water and move away from the immediate water's edge.

The weather authority also noted that an 8-cm tsunami wave has been observed in New Caledonia.

According to the US Geological Survey (USGS), the quake struck at 2.57 a.m., and its epicentre, with a depth of 37.7 km, was determined to be at 23.229 degrees south latitude and 170.694 degrees east longitude.

In a report, the US Tsunami Warning System said that hazardous tsunami waves from this earthquake are possible within 1,000 km of the epicentre along the coasts of Vanuatu, New Caledonia and Fiji.

The Loyalty Islands is one of three administrative subdivisions of New Caledonia encompassing the Loyalty Island archipelago in the Pacific, which are located northeast of the New Caledonian mainland of Grande Terre.