A tsunami watch for the offshore waters of north Queensland has been cancelled.
The Bureau of Meteorology (BOM) issued a tsunami watch for the Great Barrier Reef offshore water areas between Yeppoon and Bowen at 8.44am AEST.
However, at 9.27am AEST, BoM cancelled the national bulletin tsunami watch.
The US Geological Survey recorded a 7.8 magnitude earthquake 295 km northwest of the Santo islands in neighbouring Vanuatu which struck at 9.03am AEDT.
About 15 minutes later a 7.3 was recorded 330km northwest of Luganville, Espiritu Santo, Vanuatu -- about 1950km northeast of Brisbane.
A tsunami warning still exists for Vanuatu and other nearby countries.
A tsunami watch is still current for New Zealand.
