MOSCOW, November 22. /TASS/. A 7.3 magnitude earthquake hit the Solomon Islands in the southwestern Pacific Ocean on Tuesday, the seismological network of the Hong Kong Observatory reported after registering tremors at 10:03 Chinese time (05:03 Moscow time).

The epicenter of vibrations was located 56 km from the capital of this state - the city of Honiara (population about 65,000 people).

According to the US Geological Survey, the earthquake was located at a depth of 13.6 km. The US National Tsunami Warning Center has issued a tsunami alert.

According to the center’s forecasts, due to the earthquake, a tsunami is possible within 300 km from the epicenter of tremors along the coast of the Solomon Islands.

This remote region is part of the so-called Pacific Ring of Fire - a chain of seismically active zones and volcanoes, including underwater ones, stretching from the coast of Mexico through the Hawaiian Islands, the Philippines and Indonesia south to New Zealand.