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Moderate earthquake shakes the Solomon Islands, no damage reported
By BNO News
NEW YORK (BNO NEWS) -- A moderate earthquake shook the island of Malaita in the Solomon Islands on early Tuesday, seismologists said, but there were no immediate reports of major damage or casualties.
The 5.7-magnitude earthquake at 5.19 a.m. local time (1819 GMT) was centered approximately 25 kilometers (15 miles) southeast of Auki, the provincial capital of Malaita Province. It struck about 35 kilometers (21.7 miles) deep, making it a shallow earthquake, according to the United States Geological Survey (USGS).
The Pacific Tsunami Warning Center initially measured the strength of the earthquake at 5.9 on the Richter scale, but the USGS eventually revised it down to 5.7.
The USGS estimated that some 40,000 people perceived strong shaking during the earthquake, which could potentially result in moderate damage. However, there were no immediate reports of serious damage and no casualties were reported.
On Saturday afternoon, a strong 6.7-magnitude earthquake struck in the same region as Tuesday's earthquake. There were no reports of casualties from that earthquake.
On April 21, 1977, a 7.3-magnitude earthquake struck about 118 kilometers (73.3 miles) south of Tuesday's epicenter, killing at least 18 people.
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