6.9 Magnitude Earthquake strikes Solomon Islands

May 23, 2015 An earthquake hit close to the Solomon Islands, in the early hours of Thursday morning. It was about 184 from  and 487 kilometres from the capital. The US Geological Survey has stated that Tsunami warnings are yet to be released and that no major damage occurred.

The quake was 6.9 in magnitude and hit a depth of 19 kilometres. It was then followed by a smaller 4.9 magnitude aftershock.

The geographical position of the Solomon Islands places them in ‘the ’, an area of tectonic activity in the basin of the Pacific Ocean that is subject to frequent earthquakes and volcanic eruptions.

"This is one of the most active seismic regions in the world -- in the last three years we have had 30 plus earthquakes of over 6.0 magnitude," Duty Seismologist Marco Maldoni told AFP.