A 6.1 magnitude earthquake shook Vanuatu, a small Pacific island nation, on Thursday - but as of now, no serious damage or injuries have been reported.
Vanuatu, according to The International Science Times, is located in a seismically active region known as the "ring of fire," which, on average, sees three 7.0 magnitude quakes per year.
There were no casualties during Thursday's quake in Vanuatu, but the nearby Solomon Islands did not have the same luck when a magnitude 8.0 quake struck there earlier this month. Six people died as a result of that earthquake, which also caused a small tsunami that thankfully did not damage nearby islands.
Seismic events are common in the "ring of fire," The International Science Times reported. The ring, as geologists describe it, is large and contains the friction points of many tectonic plates that comprise Earth's surface. The ring stretches from South America, where the Nazca plate dips beneath the South American plate, pushes up the Andes Mountains, and then north up along the Central America and Mexico coasts.
Most responsible for the seismic activity in The Pacific Northwest is the small Juan de Fuca plate, formed at a spreading center just to the west, which sinks beneath the North American plate, The International Science Times reported.
The "ring of fire" also contains three-fourths of the world's active volcanoes, according to The International Science Times.
The U.S. Geological Survey indicates that Vanuatu, located about 1,100 miles from northern Australia with a population of 224,000 people, is in close proximity to "one of the most seismically active areas of the world due to high rates of convergence between the Australia and Pacific plates.
This article is copyrighted by Travelers Today, the travel news leader
