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Tsunami alert wound back after large quake hits off Vanuatu

Officials wound back an initial tsunami threat issued after a large earthquake struck off the coast of the South Pacific islands of Vanuatu on Sunday. The Pacific Tsunami Warning Center said the danger had largely passed and canceled an earlier warning of a possible tsunami as a result of the quake, which was initially measured at a magnitude of 7.2 but later revised down to 6.9. The quake was also deemed to be deeper that first thought – 33 kilometers (21 miles) as opposed to 10 kms, Kanoa Koyanagi, a geophysicist at the Pacific Tsunami Warning Center in Hawaii told Reuters.

US hospital ship brings care, hope to poor Haitians

Port-au-Prince (AFP) – The huge white hospital ship anchored in the Port-au-Prince bay is impossible to miss, drawing Haitians from all over in hopes of a chance to see a doctor and get medical treatment. The USNS Comfort, on its fourth mission in Haiti since 2009, is open for business until September 18 in one of the western hemisphere's poorest countries. “It's very expensive to be seen by a specialist and since the general hospital is under construction, they can't see everyone,” she said.