MOSCOW (Sputnik) – The 5.3-magnitude earthquake occurred not far from the coast of the Solomon Islands, the US Geological Survey (USGS) said.
The tremors were registered at 17:56 GMT, 179 kilometers (111 miles) northeast of the town of Auki. The epicenter was located at the depth of 16.4 kilometers.
There are no reports about any victims or damages caused by the earthquake. No tsunami alert has been declared.
The Solomon Islands are located in a seismically active zone known as the Ring of Fire and regularly suffer from powerful earthquakes. The zone is basically a strip of volcanoes and tectonic faults in the Pacific basin which has one of the highest levels of volcanic and seismic activity in the world.
