Four major quakes strike South Pacific

They were part of a series of 16 moderate-to-major quakes that rattled the region over the same period.

The first three major quakes struck in a 70-minute cluster beginning at 9:03 a.m. (6:03 p.m. ET Wednesday). The fourth temblor hit Thursday evening at 7:29 p.m. (4:28 a.m. ET).

The Pacific Tsunami Warning Center on Hawaii issued and then quickly retracted a regional tsunami warning and watch for parts of the Pacific near the first earthquake's epicenter. The quakes that followed prompted no such warnings.

There were no immediate reports of damage or injuries, said Victor Sardina, a geophysicist with the Pacific Tsunami Warning Center on Hawaii.