Tsunami strikes Solomon Islands; 5 reported dead

<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on"><br /><div class="title" style="font-family: 'Futura Today Bold', Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 20px; text-transform: uppercase;">From: www.usatoday.com</div><div class="title" style="font-family: 'Futura Today Bold', Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 20px; text-transform: uppercase;">STRONG EARTHQUAKES ROCK SOLOMON ISLANDS REGION</div><div class="chatter" style="color: #666666; font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 12px; margin: 5px 0px 0px;">Today's 8.0 earthquake was the most powerful of a cluster of 7 in the region over the past four days, according to the USGS. There have been 10 earthquakes worldwide that were 6.3 or higher in the past 30 days. Several people died when a tsunami hit the western side of Santa Cruz Island, part of the Solomon Islands nation.</div><div class="chatter" style="color: #666666; font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 12px; margin: 5px 0px 0px;"><img src="http://i.usatoday.net/_common/_notches/2f5643ea-8e03-48bf-8b0f-7aee4691c722-01b.png" /></div><div class="chatter" style="color: #666666; font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 12px; margin: 5px 0px 0px;"><div class="source" style="background-color: white; color: rgb(153, 153, 153) !important; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 11px; margin-left: 8px;">Source: USGS</div><div class="credit" style="background-color: white; color: rgb(153, 153, 153) !important; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 11px; margin-left: 8px;">By Kevin Kepple, Denny Gainer and Jeff Dionise, USA TODAY</div><div class="credit" style="background-color: white; color: rgb(153, 153, 153) !important; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 11px; margin-left: 8px;"><div style="color: #333333; font-family: arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 22px; margin-bottom: 15px; margin-left: 60px;">A powerful earthquake off the Solomon Islands triggered a tsunami of up to 5 feet that damaged dozens of homes and killed several people in the South Pacific island chain Wednesday.</div><div style="color: #333333; font-family: arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 22px; margin-bottom: 15px; margin-left: 60px;">Authorities canceled warnings for tsunamis on more distant coasts.</div><div style="color: #333333; font-family: arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 22px; margin-bottom: 15px; margin-left: 60px;"><i>CNN</i> reported, citing a director of a hospital in the main town of Lata, that five people -- four of them elderly and one child -- died after a strong wave hit the Santa Cruz Islands, which are part of the Solomon Islands nation. The death toll was expected to rise.</div><div style="color: #333333; font-family: arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 22px; margin-bottom: 15px; margin-left: 60px;">Solomons officials reported two 4 foot, 11-inch 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, Herming said.</div><div style="color: #333333; font-family: arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 22px; margin-bottom: 15px; margin-left: 60px;"></div><div style="margin-bottom: 15px; margin-left: 60px;">Earlier, Solomon Islands Police Commissioner John Lansley said local police patrols had reported that several people were presumed dead, though the reports were still being verified.</div><div style="margin-bottom: 15px; margin-left: 60px;">"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."</div><div style="margin-bottom: 15px; margin-left: 60px;">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, Herming said.</div><div style="margin-bottom: 15px; margin-left: 60px;">Four villages on Santa Cruz were impacted by the waves, with two facing severe damage, Lansley said. Other areas of the Solomons did not appear to have been seriously affected.</div><div style="margin-bottom: 15px; margin-left: 60px;">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.</div><div style="margin-bottom: 15px; margin-left: 60px;">The tsunami formed after an 8.0-magnitude earthquake struck near the town of Lata, on Santa Cruz in Temotu province, the easternmost province of the Solomons, about a 3-hour flight from the capital, Honiara. Temotu has a population of around 30,000 people.</div><div style="margin-bottom: 15px; margin-left: 60px;">The Pacific Tsunami Warning Center said a tsunami of about 3 feet was measured in Lata wharf. Smaller waves were recorded in Vanuatu and New Caledonia.</div><div style="margin-bottom: 15px; margin-left: 60px;">The center cancelled earlier warnings for tsunami waves further away.</div><div style="margin-bottom: 15px; margin-left: 60px;">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 have been damaged by the waves.</div><div style="margin-bottom: 15px; margin-left: 60px;">"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.</div><div style="margin-bottom: 15px; margin-left: 60px;">He said he's heard the waves have swamped some smaller islands, although he's not aware of any deaths or serious injuries at this point. He said it's difficult to contact people because cellphone coverage is patchy in the region.</div><div style="margin-bottom: 15px; margin-left: 60px;">In Honiara, the warnings prompted residents to flee for higher ground.</div><div style="margin-bottom: 15px; margin-left: 60px;">"People are still standing on the hills outside of Honiara just looking out over the water, trying to observe if there is a wave coming in," said Herming, the prime minister's spokesman.</div><div style="margin-bottom: 15px; margin-left: 60px;">Atenia Tahu, who works for the Solomon Islands Broadcasting Corp. in Honiara, said most people were remaining calm.</div><div style="margin-bottom: 15px; margin-left: 60px;">"People around the coast and in the capital are ringing in and trying to get information from us and the National Disaster Office and are slowly moving up to higher ground," Tahu said. "But panic? No, no, no, people are not panicking."</div><div style="margin-bottom: 15px; margin-left: 60px;">Dr. Rooney Jagilly, the medical superintendent at the National Referral Hospital in Honiara, said the hospital asked about half its 200 patients to leave and stay with family or friends as a precautionary measure because the hospital is located near the shoreline. Those patients who weren't mobile enough to move stayed, but the hospital remained ready to evacuate them.</div><div style="margin-bottom: 15px; margin-left: 60px;">Jagilly said there had been no flooding and he hoped the hospital would return to normal Thursday. He said his staff was ready to mobilize to Santa Cruz because the small hospital there has no doctor after the previous one recently died.</div><div style="margin-bottom: 15px; margin-left: 60px;">An official at the disaster management office in Vanuatu said there were no reports of damage or injuries there.</div><div style="margin-bottom: 15px; margin-left: 60px;">More than 50 people were killed and thousands lost their homes in April 2007 when a magnitude 8.1 quake hit the western Solomon Islands, sending waves crashing into coastal villages.</div><div style="margin-bottom: 15px; margin-left: 60px;">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.</div><div style="margin-bottom: 15px; margin-left: 60px;">The U.S. Geological Survey said Wednesday's quake struck 50 miles west of Lata, at a depth of 3.6 miles</div></div></div></div>

Earthquakes Tsunami strikes Solomon Islands; 5 reported dead

From: www.usatoday.com STRONG EARTHQUAKES ROCK SOLOMON ISLANDS REGION Today's 8.0 earthquake was the most powerful of a cluster of 7 in ...

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