5.8 magnitude earthquake rocks Solomon Islands

A earthquake  has rocked the Solomon Islands and put the Pacific Ring of Fire on alert

The 5.8 mangitude earthquake hit the Solomon Islands this morning.

According to the US Geological Survery, the quake struck 42 kilometres west of Honiara, shortly before 6 o'clock this morning local time.

The quake was at a depth of 10 kilometres.

The quake struck around 13 miles from the town of Honiara, which is home to 56,000 people.

One resident of the town of Lungga left a testimonial on earthquake tracking website CSEM-EMSC which said: “There was shaking for around 10 seconds.”

A tsunami alert has not been called by the Pacific Tsunami Warning Center. South American centres say no threat is expected to the west coast of the continent. 

The Solomon Islands are located on the Pacific Ring of Fire, the most geologically active area in the world. 

More than 90 per cent of earthquakes occur here, as well as 22 or the 25 biggest volcanic eruptions in history.

The volatility on the Pacific Ring of Fire over the past month or so has increased fears for the Big One: a major earthquake in a highly-populated area on the US west coast or in Japan.

And countries across the blog stretching from Chile in South America to New Zealand are preparing for more chaos and possible aftershocks and tremors after weeks of eruptions and quakes.....

SOURCE: EXPRESS.CO.UK/WIRES/PACNEWS