Updated at 3:16 p.m., Sunday, September 2, 2007
Solomon Islands quake yields no reports of damage, injury
Associated Press
HONIARA, Solomon Islands — A powerful earthquake struck deep beneath the ocean floor near the Solomon Islands at 3:05 p.m. Saturday Hawaii time, the U.S. Geological Survey reported.No tsunami warning was issued and there were no immediate reports of damage or injuries.
The USGS measured the quake's preliminary magnitude at 6.9 and said it struck about 60 miles south of the remote Santa Cruz Islands in the South Pacific. The depth was 22 miles beneath the sea floor, it said.
An aftershock measuring magnitude 5.4 hit the area about 90 minutes later, it said.
The Hawaii-based Pacific Tsunami Warning Center said the quake triggered waves of 1.5 inches on Vanuatu, about 750 miles to the southeast, but that they were not strong enough to prompt a tsunami warning.
Solomon Islands National Disaster Management Office director Loti Yates said initial radio reports from the remote island group indicated there had been "no casualties and minimal if any damage."
The Solomon Islands are comprised of more than 200 islands with a population of about 552,000 people. They lie on the Pacific Basin's so-called "Ring of Fire," an arc of volcanos and fault lines where quakes are frequent.
An April 2 earthquake and tsunami in the Solomons caused widespread destruction on some islands and killed at least 50 people.
