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People in the Solomon Islands run to safety
Photo: MAVIS PODOKOLO / AFP
The Solomon Islands in the South Pacific have been rocked by a massive earthquake.
The US earthquake observatory (USGS) put the magnitude at 7.0.
The earthquake occurred on Tuesday afternoon near the town of Malango in the province of Guadalcanal at a depth of about 15 kilometers.
The warning system in the USA initially warned of a tsunami.
However, after a few hours, the all-clear was given.
There were initially no reports of deaths or injuries or major destruction on the Solomon Islands.
However, according to local media, there should be damage to buildings.
Many people panicked and tried to get away from the coasts and to higher ground.
Malango is less than 40 kilometers southwest of the capital, Honiara.
On the archipelago with 700,000 inhabitants there are mostly flat houses, which is favorable in earthquakes.
The authorities advised the population to continue to be cautious even after the all-clear, as aftershocks are to be expected, as reported by the Solomon Times newspaper.
In Honiara, the electricity was temporarily shut off to check for possible damage to the lines.
The Solomon Islands in the South Pacific are made up of hundreds of islands and lie east of New Guinea.
Surrounding island states include Tuvalu, Fiji and Vanuatu.
More than 160 dead in Indonesia
Not far away is Indonesia.
More than 160 people were killed and hundreds injured in an earthquake on the island of Java on Monday.
On Tuesday, emergency services searched for missing people in the rubble and under mud avalanches.
Using excavators and dump trucks, they cleared access to areas cut off from the outside world by landslides.
President Joko Widodo visited the disaster area on Tuesday and promised financial aid for those affected.
In particular, it is important to quickly rescue those who are still buried.
Earthquake-proof construction standards would have to be applied during reconstruction, as earthquakes would repeatedly occur in the island nation, he warned.
Both the Solomon Islands and Indonesia lie on the Pacific Ring of Fire, the most geologically active zone on earth.
Earthquakes and volcanic eruptions are common there.
bam/dpa
