25 Jan 2010

Shallow quake hits off Solomons

7:32 am on 25 January 2010

A shallow 5.6-magnitude earthquake has struck near the Solomon Islands, but there was no immediate tsunami warning or reports of damage.

The US Geological Survey said the quake was measured at a depth of about 10 kilometres and struck 160 kilometres southeast of the town of Gizo in the early hours of this morning.

A string of earthquakes rocked the western Solomon Islands earlier in the month, with the largest of 7.2 causing a tsunami estimated at nearly 2.5 metres.