Solomon Islands earthquake: 'It was shaking and shaking... my heart was racing'

The view from Honiara's skyline this morning. Resident Kesaya Baba said she could not see any structural damage to nearby homes. Photo/ Kesaya Baba

Residents in the Solomon Islands were violently shaken awake this morning when a 7.8 magnitude quake hit the small South Pacific country.

World Vision regional communications leader Suzy Sainovski said she was asleep when the quake hit around 5.30am local time.

"The earthquake woke me up. I was in bed and it was dark and it felt being in a matchbox that someone was just shaking and shaking.

"It felt almost like the hotel's foundation was moving in waves."

The shaking lasted for about 45 seconds and despite cupboard doors rattling, nothing fell over, Sainovski said.

"My heart was racing and I was wondering when it was going to stop."

She had not seen any damage to the buildings near her hotel in Honiara, but the threat of a tsunami still loomed.

"We were visiting remote islands where we work by boat this past week and there's no running water on the island, there's no electricity and the houses are on stilts and the actual sides of the houses are woven together from vegetation.

"The houses are 20 to 50m from the beach and I remember thinking if a tsunami hit here, communities such as these would be extremely vulnerable."

Red Cross medic Donna Collins is on the island of Malaita. She was shaken awake in the early hours of the morning. photo/ supplied

The Solomon Islands Red Cross has activated its emergency operations centre and is on standby for response.

Red Cross medic Donna Collins is on Malaita Island as part of a dengue fever education project.

She was also woken by the quake, rushing outside when it hit.

"I had time to chuck some clothes on and I went outside - we're in a lodge and I wasn't sure how secure it was," Collins said.

The nurse and midwife was in Nepal last year as part of the relief effort from April's deadly 7.8 quake when the second one hit in May.

She said the feeling on Malaita was similar, but lasted longer.

"it seemed to go on for quite a while, it was a good minute and a half."

After hearing of a tsunami warning through Facebook, Collins grabbed her colleague and their bags and raced to higher ground in the pitch black.

She couldn't see any damage from high ground, and locals seemed relatively unfazed by the tsunami threat.

"I don't think island people get too worried about much, they're pretty cool calm and collected."

By 10am NZ time Collins and her colleague were heading to the Red Cross' Solomons base to see where they could lend a hand.

Tsunami travel time contours in hours, beginning from the earthquake origin time. Photo / Potential Tsunami Warning Center

Volunteer Service Abroad's Solomon Islands project manager Kesaya Baba was at home in Honiara when the quake woke her up.

"It was shaking quite strongly for what felt like over a minute, a kind of side to side shake.

"I woke up and I quickly got under the bed and then my housemates also came and got under the bed as well."

There didn't appear to be any structural damage to their house, but the quake was strong enough to knock books from shelves and objects off tables.

"At the time it was certainly very shocking and it was one of those feelings where you're not sure if it's going to stop or if it's going to get worse."

Baba had heard there were no reports of damage in Honiara at this stage, and from her view at the top of a valley she could not see damage to the "precarious" houses around her.

She was unsure yet if residents in the valley below had evacuated, but had received confirmation her six volunteers were okay and had moved to higher ground.

A tsunami alert had been downgraded to a tsunami watch in the area, she said.

Damaging waves are still expected to hit the Solomon Islands, Papua New Guinea and Vanuatu.

A previous tsunami threat for New Zealand has been lifted.

Tsunami warning still in place for the following provinces
• Makira
• Temotu
• Malaita
• Central
• Rennel and Bellona
• South Guadalcanal
• Isabel