Tsunami hits Solomon Islands, 4 dead
Source: Agencies |
February 7, 2013, Thursday
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A powerful earthquake off the Solomon Islands yesterday generated a tsunami of up to 1.5 meters that damaged dozens of homes and left at least four people dead in the South Pacific island chain.
Local officials reported that two 1.5-meter waves hit the western side of Santa Cruz Island, damaging between 70 and 80 homes and properties, said George Herming, a spokesman for the prime minister. Many villagers had headed to higher ground as a precaution, he said.
Dozens of aftershocks stronger than magnitude 5 followed the quake.
Solomon Islands Police Commissioner John Lansley said local police patrols reported that several people were presumed dead.
"Sadly, we believe some people have lost their lives," he said. "At the moment we potentially know of four, but there may of course be more."
One of the people presumed dead was fishing in a dugout canoe when the first wave hit, sweeping him out to sea, Herming said. Officials were searching for his body. Another woman was believed to have drowned when the water rushed into her village.
Four villages on Santa Cruz were hit by the waves, with two facing severe damage, Lansley said. Other areas of the Solomons did not appear to have been seriously affected.
Disaster officials were struggling to reach the remote area after the tsunami flooded the airstrip at the nearest airport and left it littered with debris.
The tsunami formed after a magnitude-8.0 earthquake struck near the town of Lata, on Santa Cruz in Temotu, the easternmost province in the Solomons. The Pacific Tsunami Warning Center said a tsunami of about a meter was measured in Lata wharf. Smaller waves were recorded in Vanuatu and New Caledonia.
Richard Dapo, a school principal on an island near Santa Cruz, said he lives inland but has been fielding calls from families on the coast whose homes were damaged by the waves.
"I try to tell the people living on the coastline, 'Move inland, find a higher place. Make sure to keep away from the sea. Watch out for waves,'" he said.
In Honiara, the warnings prompted residents to flee for higher ground.
The Solomons comprise more than 200 islands with a population of about 552,000 people. They lie on the "Ring of Fire" - an arc of earthquake and volcanic zones that stretches around the Pacific Rim and where about 90 percent of the world's quakes occur.
Yesterday's quake struck 81 kilometers west of Lata at a depth of 28.7 kilometers.
Local officials reported that two 1.5-meter waves hit the western side of Santa Cruz Island, damaging between 70 and 80 homes and properties, said George Herming, a spokesman for the prime minister. Many villagers had headed to higher ground as a precaution, he said.
Dozens of aftershocks stronger than magnitude 5 followed the quake.
Solomon Islands Police Commissioner John Lansley said local police patrols reported that several people were presumed dead.
"Sadly, we believe some people have lost their lives," he said. "At the moment we potentially know of four, but there may of course be more."
One of the people presumed dead was fishing in a dugout canoe when the first wave hit, sweeping him out to sea, Herming said. Officials were searching for his body. Another woman was believed to have drowned when the water rushed into her village.
Four villages on Santa Cruz were hit by the waves, with two facing severe damage, Lansley said. Other areas of the Solomons did not appear to have been seriously affected.
Disaster officials were struggling to reach the remote area after the tsunami flooded the airstrip at the nearest airport and left it littered with debris.
The tsunami formed after a magnitude-8.0 earthquake struck near the town of Lata, on Santa Cruz in Temotu, the easternmost province in the Solomons. The Pacific Tsunami Warning Center said a tsunami of about a meter was measured in Lata wharf. Smaller waves were recorded in Vanuatu and New Caledonia.
Richard Dapo, a school principal on an island near Santa Cruz, said he lives inland but has been fielding calls from families on the coast whose homes were damaged by the waves.
"I try to tell the people living on the coastline, 'Move inland, find a higher place. Make sure to keep away from the sea. Watch out for waves,'" he said.
In Honiara, the warnings prompted residents to flee for higher ground.
The Solomons comprise more than 200 islands with a population of about 552,000 people. They lie on the "Ring of Fire" - an arc of earthquake and volcanic zones that stretches around the Pacific Rim and where about 90 percent of the world's quakes occur.
Yesterday's quake struck 81 kilometers west of Lata at a depth of 28.7 kilometers.
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