No one at the Taiwan embassy or the technical mission in the Solomon Islands was injured in a 7.1-magnitude earthquake that struck the South Pacific island state Sunday, according to the Ministry of Foreign Affairs (MOFA).

MOFA spokesman Henry Chen said late Sunday that the ministry made several phone calls to Taiwan Ambassador George Chan immediately.

After the earthquake and was assured that the embassy staff and technical mission members as well as their families were all safe.

Ambassador Chan contacted Solomon Islands Prime Minister Derek Sikua and its police commissioner to obtain information in the aftermath of the quake and to extend Taiwan's sympathy, Chen said.

Meanwhile, Foreign Minister Timothy C.T. Yang has instructed Chan to provide any possible aid to the Solomon Islands, one of Taiwan's allies in the region, Chen said.

According to other MOFA officials, local media outlets have learned that some people in a remote tribal village in the Solomon Islands' Isabel Province were injured, but that the damage there was not severe.

The reports cited their source as the chieftain himself, Stanley Tabeva, who made a laborious effort to offer aid to the victims of Typhoon Morakot in Taiwan last year.

On Monday, the China Times reported that the village had suffered some damage during the earthquake and that Tabeva's wife had sustained minor leg injuries.

According to foreign wire reports, the earthquake hit the Solomon Islands at 8.40 p.m. Sunday. The epicenter of the quake was located 97 kilometers southwest off Kira Kira in the Pacific Ocean.

No tsunami warning had yet been issued yet, the reports stated.

The Solomon Islands, which is located in the South pacific Ocean east of Papua New Guinea, consists of nearly 1,000 islands. It covers a land mass of 27,986 square kilometers. The capital, Honiara, is on the island of Guadalcanal.