The magnitude 6.6 earthquake in the Solomons Islands

A strong 6.6-magnitude quake occurred in the Santa Cruz Islands, part of the Solomons island group today, according to the US Geological Survey. No tsunami warnings were issued.

According to AFP, the earthquake occurred about 3 hours in local time (11 hours in Vietnam time), located at a depth of 38km, 350km from east of Kirakira, the main city of Makira Island in the Solomons Islands.

The Pacific Tsunami Warning Center in Hawaii said 'there is no tsunami threat on a large scale'.

'However, earthquakes at this level sometimes cause regional tsunamis that can devastate coastlines within a distance of 100km from the epicenter,' the center said.

The Solomons archipelago is located on the edge of tectonic plates in the Pacific Fire Ring and there are frequent earthquakes.

In 2007, a tsunami following the magnitude 8.1 earthquake killed at least 52 people in the Solomons and left thousands of people homeless.