Solomons Tsunami

[alfl]

Reports are coming in Monday morning regarding a richter scale 8 quake which has caused a tsunami on the coast of some Solomon Islands, inundating at least two villages. Hopefully no loss of life...
Alf

[Grant]

A tsunami has swept ashore in the Solomon Islands after a strong undersea earthquake in the South Pacific. Initial reports from outlying, remote areas say at least eight people have been killed, but local officials fear the death toll could rise further.

The National Disaster Council chairman told reporters that some villages had been "completely wiped out". Tsunami warnings have also been issued for Papua New Guinea, north-east Australia, and other nearby islands.

The quake measured 8.0 and hit at 0740 local time on Monday (2040 GMT Sunday).

It struck 345km (215 miles) north-west of the Solomon Islands' capital Honiara, north-east of Australia, the US Geological Survey said, at a depth of 10km (six miles) below the surface.

BBC NEWS | World | Asia-Pacific | Tsunami strikes Solomon Islands

[Grant]

A strong earthquake with a magnitude of 8.1 hit the Solomon Islands at 8.39am and triggered a tsunami this morning, according to Geoscience Australia. A man who answered the telephone at the Gizo police station said up to eight people had been killed by the tsunami -- including a man, a woman and six children -- but said the deaths were still unconfirmed, The Associated Press reported.

Bondi Beach in Sydney was closed and all Manly ferry services suspended due to a tsunami warning - the size was expected to be between 20 - 30cm. The west coast of New Zealand could expect changes in sea level up to 0.5m, the New Zealand Ministry of Civil Defence said. This could occur between 1.38pm and 5.06pm.New Zealand is still under 'watch', the Ministry said.

Whereas many geological agencies, including those in Australia and Japan, put the magnitude of the quake at 8.1, the US Geological Survey's initial estimate was 7.6. The quake was 10 kilometres deep and struck 45 km south south-east of Gizo, a small township on New Georgia Islands.

Scenes of devastation after tsunami hits Solomons - 02 Apr 2007 - NZ Herald: World / International News

[Grant]

"At least six people are confirmed dead, but that number will increase because there are lots of missing people," Solomon Islands' chief government spokesman Alfred Maesulia told Reuters. "The wave was up to 10 metres high in some villages. Some villages have been entirely washed away."

"It was just like a real extreme tide ... the water just came up about probably about four to five metres above sea level and kind of just went up into the communities and doused everything," Danny Kennedy, a dive shop owner and provincial politician on Gizo, told Reuters.

A 12-year-old girl in Gizo drowned as the tsunami swept ashore. Witnesses said an elderly woman also died when she was trapped in her house as it was washed into the sea by the retreating wave but she had not been included in the official toll.

Death and destruction in Solomons tsunami - New Zealand, world, sport, business & entertainment news on Stuff.co.nz

[Grant]

Looks like the death toll has now risen to at least 12.

Many outlying villages have been destroyed, or "completely wiped out". Thousands of refugees sheltering on high ground are in desperate need of water.


Reports coming in of damage to outlying villages on other islands include:

• 300 houses destroyed in Sasamungga village on Choiseul island
• four people missing on Mono island
• waves seen 200 metres inland on Simbo island
• Ranunga island also hit
• bodies seen floating in the sea

Witnesses described the water reaching 50-70 metres (164-230 feet) inland on Ghizo.

[Grant]

Four to five New Zealanders are unaccounted for after a tsunami hit the Solomon Islands yesterday wiping out entire villages. The four have not been in contact since a huge earthquake triggered the tsunami which struck outlying islands in the impoverished South Pacific state, killing at least 15 people.


Four NZers unaccounted for in Solomons after tsunami - 03 Apr 2007 - NZ Herald: New Zealand National news

[Grant]

A state of emergency has been declared in the Solomon Islands after a tsunami struck, killing at least 12 people. Whole villages are said to have been wiped out around the main town of Gizo in the western Solomons.

The scale of devastation should become clearer once results of an assessment are known, but officials warn the number of dead could rise further. They have called for emergency supplies to help hundreds of people who are spending the night in the open.

BBC NEWS | World | Asia-Pacific | Tsunami sparks Solomons emergency

[Grant]

Emergency aid is finally trickling through to thousands of people stranded by the devastating tsunami which struck the western Solomon Islands. At least 22 people died in Monday's disaster but the toll is set to rise, as many others are still missing.

Thousands of residents of Gizo town are now homeless, and many of them are due to spend a second night sleeping in the open in hills behind the town. A series of aftershocks has shaken the isolated region still further.

BBC NEWS | World | Asia-Pacific | Aid reaches tsunami-hit Solomons

[Grant]

The earthquake that triggered last week's tsunami in the Solomons lifted an entire island up by 3metres, exposing coral reefs that are now becoming bleached and dying.

The pristine underwater reefs of Ranongga Island, in the western Solomons, used to attract divers from all over the world. But the quake has permanently changed the island's geography, according to an Agence France-Presse (AFP) reporter, who said the shoreline now extends out to sea by another 70m in places.

An 8.0 magnitude earthquake shook this pocket of the South Pacific last Monday, setting off tidal waves that destroyed houses in low-lying areas. Between 30 to 40 people were killed, according to varying estimates by government and international agencies.

The aid effort has been slow, hampered by bureaucracy and the remoteness of some of the islands affected. Rescue workers have yet to reach isolated Ranongga, but the AFP correspondent, who chartered a boat, reported that its fringing reefs have been transformed into a barren moonscape.

Solomons quake lifts island up by 3m, exposes reef - 09 Apr 2007 - NZ Herald: World / International News

[Grant]

The Red Cross says up to 7,000 people are homeless one week after a tsunami triggered by an earthquake swept through the western Solomon Islands. A Red Cross spokeswoman in the badly damaged town of Gizo said food and medical aid was arriving but many people were still camping in the hills. Many people have been afraid to return to their homes because of fears of another tsunami, the spokeswoman said.

BBC NEWS | World | Asia-Pacific | Thousands homeless after tsunami