HAWAII – A magnitude 6.9 earthquake stuck the Santa Cruz Islands region at 11:45 p.m. Friday.

The Pacific Tsunami Warning Center reports:

Based on all available data a destructive Pacific-wide tsunami is not expected and there is no tsunami threat to Hawaii.”Pacific Tsunami Warning Center

According to the USGS:

The eastern margin of the Australia plate is one of the most sesimically active areas of the world due to high rates of convergence between the Australia and Pacific plates. In the region of New Zealand, the 3000 km long Australia-Pacific plate boundary extends from south of Macquarie Island to the southern Kermadec Island chain. It includes an oceanic transform (the Macquarie Ridge), two oppositely verging subduction zones (Puysegur and Hikurangi), and a transpressive continental transform, the Alpine Fault through South Island, New Zealand.

Since 1900 there have been 15 M7.5+ earthquakes recorded near New Zealand. Nine of these, and the four largest, occurred along or near the Macquarie Ridge, including the 1989 M8.2 event on the ridge itself, and the 2004 M8.1 event 200 km to the west of the plate boundary, reflecting intraplate deformation.

On Saturday, May 23rd, Hawaii Island will mark 55 years since the 1960 tsunami killed 61 people. The deadly tidal surge was set off by an earthquake off the coast of Chile.