Saturday, December 26, 2009 SYDNEY: A moderate earthquake struck off the south Pacific island state of Samoa on Saturday, seismologists said, but there was no tsunami alert and no immediate reports of damage. The US Geological Survey said the 5.5-magnitude quake struck at 2204 GMT around 281 kilometres (174 miles) south south-west of the capital Apia. It struck at a depth of 35 km. Nine people died in September when a tsunami hit the northern Tongan island of Niuatoputapu following an 8.0-magnitude earthquake. The tsunami also killed 143 people in Samoa and another 34 in neighbouring American Samoa. Earthquakes are common on the Pacific "Ring of Fire" where continental plates in the Earth's crust meet.
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