78
A strong earthquake struck off the Solomon Islands in the South Pacific but the Pacific Tsunami Warning Center said there is no threat of a Pacific-wide tsunami.
The quake, with an estimated magnitude of 6.9, struck at about 5:30 a.m. Saturday (7:30 p.m. Friday Hawaii time) and was centered about 35 miles west-southwest of San Cristobal in the Solomon Islands, and about 1,280 miles north-northeast of Queensland, Australia, according to the U.S. Geological Survey. There were no immediate reports of damage.
The tsunami warning center in Ewa Beach issued a statement saying, “Based on all available data a destructive Pacific-wide tsunami is not expected and there is no tsunami threat to Hawaii.”
The Solomon Islands is a country of nearly 1,000 islands that lie on the “Ring of Fire” — an arc of earthquake and volcanic zones that stretches around the Pacific Rim and where about 90 percent of the world’s quakes occur.
