Authorities in the Solomon Islands urged citizens on Tuesday to move to higher ground after an earthquake of magnitude 7.0 struck off the southwest coast.
The quake hit at a depth of 15 km (9 miles), about 16 km (10 miles) southwest of the area of Malango, said the United States Geological Survey, which had initially put its magnitude at 7.3.
“People are advised to move to higher ground now,” George Herming, a spokesperson from the office of Prime Minister Manasseh Sogavare, told Reuters.
“Office tables and computers were thrown all over. It was very scary,” he said but added that there was no major damage to buildings in the centre of Honiara, the capital of the Pacific nation.
