A 5.6 magnitude earthquake has rocked the Solomon Islands, making it the third quake recorded off the coast of Australia in less than 24 hours.
The quake occurred at a depth of 35 km and the epicenter was 79 km south of Panguna, Papua New Guinea.
The U.S. Geological Survey (USGS) initially reported Monday’s quake as a magnitude 5.6, but later lowered the value to 5.3.
The Bureau of Meteorology said there was no tsunami threat to Australia.
A 5.6 magnitude earthquake has rocked the Solomon Islands, making it the third quake recorded off the coast of Australia in less than 24 hours.
This comes after a 6.6 magnitude earthquake shook Tonga at around 9:30 a.m. local time.
The earthquake occurred at a depth of 112 km and the epicenter was at a distance of 70 km northwest of Fangale’ounga, Ha’apai on the island of Foa, the USGS reported.
Tongan authorities urged people to “immediately evacuate inland, to higher ground or to the third level of a steel or concrete building” until the threat has passed.
Tsunami sirens reportedly sounded on the island until the alert was canceled an hour later.
No damage or casualties were reported.
The quake occurred at a depth of 60 km and the epicenter was 79 km south of Panguna, Papua New Guinea.
Vanuatu was also rocked by a 6.4 magnitude earthquake around 9:30 a.m. local time on Sunday.
The underwater earthquake occurred north of Port Villa, the capital of Vanuatu, around 9:23 a.m. local time, at a depth of 32 km, the government portal Geoscience Australia said.
The island nation lies 3,600km off the coast of northeast Queensland and is home to around 340,000 people.
It follows a magnitude 6.2 earthquake that occurred about 95 km from Luganville earlier this month.
Vanuatu, Tonga and the Solomon Islands are located on the Pacific “Ring of Fire”, the arc of seismic faults around the Pacific Ocean where much of the world’s earthquakes and volcanic activity occur.
More soon.
dailymail us
