The quake hit at 7:19 pm local time (0819 GMT), 176 kilometres (110 miles) southeast of the capital Honiara at a depth of 54 kilometres, the US Geological Survey said.

The Hawaii-based Pacific Tsunami Warning Center said there was "no destructive widespread tsunami threat" based on historical data.

"However, earthquakes of this size sometimes generate local tsunamis that can be destructive along coasts located within a hundred kilometres of the earthquake epicentre," it added.

The Solomon Islands is on a tectonic plate margin in the so-called Pacific Ring of Fire and is frequently hit by quakes. A strong 6.6-magnitude quake hit the island group in January but there were no reports of damage or injuries.

In 2007 a tsunami following an 8.1-magnitude earthquake killed at least 52 people in the Solomon Islands and left thousands homeless.

The epicenter of the quake was located six miles (10 kilometers) from the town of Weitchpec, not far from the border with the state of Oregon, the US Geological Survey reported. It struck at a depth of 20 miles.

"We felt it. There is no damage, no injuries in the whole county and no tsunami warning," an official in the Humboldt County sheriff's office in Eureka told AFP, describing the quake as "moderate shaking."

Earthquakes are regular events in California, mostly triggered by activity along the San Andreas Fault that runs through much of the western state, the most populous in the United States.

Geologists say a quake capable of causing widespread destruction is 99 percent certain of hitting California within the next 30 years. A magnitude 7.8 quake could kill 1,800 people, injure 50,000 more and damage 300,000 buildings.

A 6.7-magnitude earthquake in Los Angeles left at least 60 people dead and did an estimated $10 billion damage in 1994, while a 6.9 quake in San Francisco in 1989 claimed the lives of 67 people.