Royal Australian Air Force (RAAF) flights have been returning Australian citizens from Vanuatu as part of the ongoing humanitarian mission in Port Vila. A total of 588 Australians have been brought to Brisbane on eight flights, with the final two flights scheduled for Sunday, Nine News reported.

The quake briefly prompted a tsunami alert for parts of Vanuatu, according to the U.S. Tsunami Warning System, which is part of the National Weather Service. As of 2:14 p.m. local time, U.S. officials said the threat had passed.

Commercial flights had been set to resume on Sunday before a new earthquake struck the island nation. Aid efforts remained strained because of the difficulty accessing the Pacific island.

A magnitude 6.1 earthquake rattled buildings on Vanuatu's main island early Sunday but did not appear to have caused major damage, just days after a massive, deadly quake wreaked havoc on the Pacific archipelago.

A magnitude 6.2 earthquake struck the Vanuatu Islands on Sunday, the GFZ German Research Centre for Geosciences said, revising up its original figure from 6.1.