The offshore quake hit at 1256 GMT at a depth of 48 kilometres (30 miles), around 120 kilometres south of the town of Isangel and 340 kilometres from the capital Port Vila, the United States Geological Survey said.
"There is no longer a tsunami warning from this earthquake," the Pacific Tsunami Warning Centre said after revising its initial assessment.
The quake and tsunami threat meant a short night for some residents in Isangel.
"It was scary, it woke us up as it happened around midnight," Anna Erick, who works at a beachside hotel in Isangel on the island of Tanna, told AFP.
"It didn't last long, but we were up until three or four o'clock in the morning waiting for the all clear after the tsunami warning." There was no damage to the resort, she added.
Vanuatu's Meteorology and Geohazards Department had warned residents in the southernmost Tafea province to take "precautionary measures" such as moving from the coast to higher ground.
USGS initially reported a magnitude of 7.3 and a depth of 35 kilometres, but soon revised its report.
Earthquakes are common in Vanuatu, a low-lying archipelago of 320,000 people that straddles the seismic Ring of Fire, an arc of intense tectonic activity that stretches through Southeast Asia and across the Pacific basin.
A magnitude 6.7 earthquake struck northern Vanuatu in November, with authorities warning that "small tsunami waves" had been picked up by ocean monitoring equipment.
Vanuatu is ranked as one of the countries most susceptible to natural disasters such as earthquakes, storm damage, flooding and tsunamis, according to the annual World Risk Report.
Earthquake in central Mexico shakes capital city
Mexico City (AFP) Dec 7, 2023 -
A 5.8-magnitude earthquake shook much of central Mexico on Thursday including the capital, prompting people to run into the streets, the country's seismological institute said.
There were no initial reports of damage in Mexico City, a sprawling metropolis of nine million people, Mayor Marti Batres wrote on X, formerly Twitter.
President Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador was briefed by civil protection officials and said afterward in a video posted on X, "apparently the quake was not that strong. In any case we will release more information soon."
The rumbling in the quake-prone country touched off a warning siren system. The institute said the epicenter was in the central state of Puebla.
Puebla officials the quake was felt in several towns but there were no initial reports of damage or injuries.
Mexico lies over five tectonic plates that make it one of the world's most earthquake vulnerable countries, particularly on the Pacific coast.
In 1985 an 8.1 magnitude quake centered on the Pacific coast ravaged much of central and southern Mexico, killing thousands and causing severe damage in Mexico City.
A 7.1-magnitude quake on September 19, 2017 killed 369 people, most of them in the capital.
On that same day in 2022 central Mexico was hit by another quake, just hours after millions of people had taken part in a mock earthquake safety exercise.
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