Subsea quake off Australia

A POWERFUL earthquake has been recorded underwater off the Solomon Islands, it was reported in New Zealand yesterday.

The US Geological Survey said Saturday's quake had a magnitude of 6.9.

It was centred 35 miles west-south-west of San Christobal in the Solomon Islands at a depth of 22 miles under the ocean's floor.

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The Pacific Tsunami Warning Centre said it expects no major tsunami threat from the quake.

The Solomon Islands is an archipelago of nearly 1,000 islands which lie on the "Ring of Fire" – an arc of earthquake and volcanic zones that stretches around the Pacific Rim.

Around 90 per cent of the world's quakes occur within this area.

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