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This is an archive article published on September 28, 2012

6.0 magnitude quake hits off Solomon Islands: USGS

The quake was about 6.2-magnitude but was unlikely to create a tsunami or serious damage.

A quake measuring magnitude 6.0 hit off the Solomon Islands today,but Australian seismologists said there was little risk of a tsunami.

The US Geological Survey put the quake at 6.0-magnitude some 272 kilometres west-northwest of the capital Honiara. With a depth of about 9 kilometres,it was about 112 kilometres southeast of the western city of Gizo.

Geoscience Australia measured the quake at about 6.2-magnitude but said it was unlikely to create a tsunami or cause serious damage in the capital.

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“It’s just off the plate boundary so it’s a normal-sized earthquake and positioning for the area,” seismologist Hugh Glanville told AFP.

“It’s not too close to Honiara. There’s a local city with a population of about 6,000 or so that might get a bit of damage,” he said in reference to Gizo.

“But the majority of the population is a bit too far away to suffer more than a bit of shaking. And the population in the area is pretty sparse really.”

Glanville also said the quake was too small to generate a tsunami.

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“Generally a local tsunami starts at about 6.5 (magnitude). It’s always possible,but it’s just extremely rare that it would generate a tsunami,” he said.

“It’s just one of the plate boundary earthquakes along the Ring of Fire that normally happens in this area.”

The Solomon Islands form part of the Ring of Fire,a zone of tectonic activity around the Pacific Ocean that is subject to earthquakes and volcanic eruptions.

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

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