Official says there is an immediate need for drinking water and food, as efforts begin to assess scale of damage.
Results show turnout for independence referendum was 43.90 percent, as a call to boycott the vote was largely heeded.
With 90.23 percent of ballots counted, 96.32 percent of voters had voted ‘No’ to independence, local media reports.
Main independence parties have called for a boycott due to high number of COVID-19 cases.
Tensions high after key independence parties boycott the vote because of COVID and warn they’ll challenge the result.
The quake struck just after midnight on Thursday about 415km east of Vao in New Caledonia at a depth of 10km.
Most voters choose to remain part of France, instead of backing independence, in second of three possible referendums.
Voters in southern Pacific archipelago will choose whether to break away from France in second independence referendum.
The vote on independence follows a referendum in November 2018 when 57 percent of voters chose to remain part of France.
People in the island nations have some of world’s highest rates of diabetes and obesity, and health systems are weak.
Qatari hosts score twice in extra time to defeat New Caledonia’s Hienghene Sport 3-1.
![Fifa club world cup [Showkat Shafi/Al Jazeera]](/wp-content/uploads/2019/12/9a60ab9e57c14f75926eeea513040743_8.jpeg?resize=270%2C180)
Long-lived cyclone continues slow progress through the Coral Sea towards the Australian coast.
A new magnitude 6.6 quake followed a shallow and powerful tremor earlier on Wednesday that triggered a tsunami alert.
Initial results suggest French archipelago has opted against independence, with nearly 60 percent of votes counted.
