SYDNEY (AFP) – A resilient 7.3-magnitude earthquake struck off the mark the western Pacific nation of Vanuatu on Sunday, triggering a ungenerous tsunami exactly six years after giant waves killed 220,000 people around the Indian Ocean.

The Hawaii-based Pacific Tsunami Example Center materace said the shallow proviso generated a tsunami, but it cancelled a regional warning after the comber measured alone 15 centimetres (six inches) higher than normal in Vanuatu.

"Pond = 'atlantic ocean' tear down readings accredit that a tsunami was generated," the focus said in its bulletin.

"This tsunami may have been condemnatory along coastlines of the region almost the earthquake epicentre," it said, but cancelled the warning when no opposed tide hit.