Earthquake Hits Solomon Islands

The Solomon Islands, which is a part of the Pacific "Ring of Fire", was struck by an earthquake of magnitude 6.5, focused 55 miles southwest of the small island of Gizo. The Pacific Tsunami Warning Center said the quake occurred at a depth of 33 kilometers (20.5) miles. The U.S. Geological Survey, however, claims that a 7.2 magnitude tremor was felt at a depth of 30 kilometers. The powerful earthquake struck the Solomons at 2148 GMT on Monday, the 4th of January, 2010.

In 2007, these islands were hit by a similar earthquake of magnitude 8.1, followed by a tsunami which apparently rose to a height of 10 meters (33 ft.), according to reports. The earthquake had an epicenter of 349 km northwest of the capital city of Honiara, at a depth of 10 kilometers. There was a series of 44 aftershocks of magnitude 5.0 and above which rose the death toll to 52 or more, according to records. The tsunami destroyed more than 900 homes and left thousands of people at God's mercy. This had affected mainly the island of Gizo and nearby areas.

Contrary to the above, no tsunami threat exists in the current scenario and no immediate damages have been reported so far, according to the local police and media. "No tsunami threat exists to coastlines in the Pacific," the Hawaii-based center said. Clive Collins, the Geoscience Australia seismologist thinks, "It's a big earthquake but it's probably not going to cause a large regional tsunami,". He said that though a local tsunami of a small intensity is possible, nothing has been reported as yet and these natural occurrences are difficult to predict.

The Ring of Fire, as the region is commonly known as, is an area where prominent earthquakes and volcanoes thrive as a result of plate tectonics and the movement of crustal plates. It would be interesting to know that it is home to about 90% of the world's earthquakes and 80% of the world's largest earthquakes. It is also known as the circum-Pacific belt or the circum-Pacific seismic belt.