Australia, Pacific shake from earthquakes

Australians suffered a rare event on Wednesday as an earthquake of magnitude 3.9 jolted the outskirts of Sydney in the early morning hours.

The earthquake struck the small town of Appin, 55 km southwest of Sydney, at 0115 local time (AEDT), jolting people out of bed, rattling windows and breaking loose objects though no injuries or major damage were reported.

The region has a history of earthquakes, though only one or two occur each year, Geoscience Australia seismologist Jonathan Bathgate told local media on Wednesday.

"It's not always consistent," Bathgate said.

"In 2013 there were about five earthquakes in the space of a couple of months, so it certainly is an area that does have a history of seismicity."

Australia is one of the world's most seismically stable land masses, a contrast to the wider Pacific region which sits on the Pacific Ring of Fire.

Fiji was on alert for a Tsunami on Wednesday (AEDT) after an unusually shallow --15 km deep -- quake of 6.9 magnitude struck 282 km southwest of the capital Suva. The alert was later cancelled.

Meanwhile an quake of 5.7 magnitude struck the western region of Vanuatu just hours later, though there were no reports of causalities or major damage, authorities said. Endit