Singapore, January 06: : A magnitude 6.9 earthquake struck near the Solomon Islands on Tuesday, a day after two quakes hit the same area damaging villages and triggering landslides, the US Geological Survey said.
There were no immediate reports of casualties or damage from Tuesday’s quake, which occurred about 70 miles (110 km) southeast of the small island of Gizo and which was followed by several aftershocks.
The Pacific Tsunami Warning Center said there was a possibility of tsunamis in the region, but Pacific coastlines were not under threat.
Monday’s magnitude 7.2 and 6.5 quakes struck close togetheraround 55 miles (88 km) south-southeast of Gizo.
“The reports say villages and houses have been damaged by landslides rather than tsunamis, but we do not have any confirmation of deaths or injuries,” a spokesman for the National Disaster Management Office told Reuters from Honiara.
A large 8.1 magnitude quake and subsequent tsunami struck Gizo in 2007, killing 52 people and leaving thousands homeless.
The Solomons are part of the Pacific “Ring of Fire,” where colliding continental plates frequently causes seismic activity.
A series of tsunamis swept into the island nations of Tonga, Samoa and American Samoa in September last year, killing more than 100 people and levelling several villages.
—–Agencies