UNDERSEA earthquakes yesterday caused panic in the South Pacific, sending islanders fleeing to higher ground on fears of a second devastating tsunami in many weeks, but a series of waves proved to be tiny and harmless.

The Pacific Tsunami Warning Centre issued a tsunami warning for the entire southwest Pacific, which included island resorts, Australia, New Zealand and Indonesia, after the quakes struck beneath the seas between Vanuatu and the Solomon Islands.

Hawaii and the Philippines, according to Reuters, were placed on tsunami watch. The centre cancelled its warning after three tsunamis, measuring up to 10 cm, were recorded in Vanuatu.

But with memories fresh of a tsunami last week that killed some 150 people in American Samoa and Samoa, many islanders panicked when the quake hit and tsunami warnings were issued.

“People were frightened and some ran out of the building onto the street because it was so strong,” Florence Cari, receptionist at Hotel Santo in Vanuatu, said.

A reporter at Vanuatu’s Daily Post newspaper said people on Espiritu Santo island ran for higher ground.

“We have had reports that the kids are running into the hills,” she said.

Some villagers in outlying islands in the Solomons reported tidal changes.

“People on the coastal areas have noticed a tide difference. The hospital is on alert,” a hospital spokesman on tiny Nendo island in southwest Solomon Islands said by telephone.

The tsunami warning centre issued its warning after two subsea quakes, one measuring 7.8 magnitude and the other 7.3. Late in the evening, the centre reported another 7 magnitude quake but ruled out a tsunami threat. No details were immediately available.

Moments before the morning quakes, a magnitude 6.7 tremor struck southeast of the Sulu archipelago of the Philippines, which is still mopping up from a typhoon that killed at least 22 people.

Indonesia’s port city, Padang, was hit by a 7.6 magnitude quake last week, killing 704 people and leaving 295 missing, but the health minister said the toll could reach 3,000.