Destructive tsunami crashes over Solomon Islands
Pastor Dale Morgan
Destructive tsunami crashes over Solomon Islands*
The Associated Press
Monday, January 4, 2010; 9:26 AM
WELLINGTON, New Zealand -- A tsunami unleashed by a major earthquake
plowed into the Solomon Islands on Monday with the crashing waters
devastating at least one village.
Initial reports said no one was seriously hurt.
A series of major quakes have rocked the South Pacific region since
Sunday, with three powerful temblors striking Monday, including a 7.2
magnitude tremor. The Solomon Island's National Disaster Management
Office said reports of the devastation were beginning to filter in late
Monday.
The tremors were centered beneath the ocean floor near the town of Gizo,
which was badly damaged in April 2007 when a 8.1-magnitude quake sent a
tsunami crashing into the coast, killing more than 50 people.
Monday's tsunami devastated a village on Rendova Island, some 188 miles
(300 kilometers) from the capital Honiara, disaster management official
Loti Yates told The Associated Press.
"One report from police was that one village was hit by a 6 to 10 foot
(2-3 meter) wall of sea water," Yates said. "It was a total inundation
police saw in a fly over."
Rendova is home to about 3,600 people.
Yates said in Baniata village on Rendova's coast, 16 houses were
destroyed and 32 damaged by the quake and the wave.
"It could be several hundred houses have been damaged ... but that is
still not verified," said Yates. "There are two to three villages where
the situation could be much worse."
Ten foreign tourists were staying on Tetepare Island, an uninhabited
eco-tourism site, and the four Germans, four Britons and two New
Zealanders were evacuated. Unconfirmed reports said two had been injured.
Yates said there were no other reports of injuries. "We're lucky that
whatever happened happened during the day and people were able to hike
up the hills," he said
Two helicopters and a police boat were carrying out damage assessments
and a vessel carrying water, food and tarpaulins was dispatched from
Honiara.
The U.S. Geological Survey recorded eight earthquakes in the region
since late Sunday. The magnitude 7.2 was centered 64 miles (103
kilometers) southeast of Gizo, and followed a magnitude 6.5 tremor less
than two hours earlier centered 54 miles (90 kilometers) southeast of
Gizo at a depth of 6 miles (10 kilometers).
The latest aftershock was magnitude 6.1 and struck late Monday, 22 miles
(36 kilometers) southeast of Gizo, U.S. Geological Survey said in a
statement.
Pacific Tsunami Warning Center geophysicist Gerard Fryer in Hawaii said
it was too small to create a tsunami. There were no immediate reports of
damage.
The Solomon Islands 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.