Dodgergirl
Apr 01, 2007, 07:53 PM
Quake jolts South Pacific
Sun Apr 1, 8:16 PM ET
CANBERRA (Reuters) - Several people were feared dead on Monday after a powerful earthquake in the South Pacific sent a tsunami wave into the Solomon Islands, officials said.
A tsunami warning was also issued for other Pacific rim countries, including Indonesia, Papua New Guinea and Australia, after the shallow quake, which had a magnitude of at least 8.0.
Solomon Islands Broadcasting Corporation in Honiara said residents on Simbo islands had reported waves traveling up to 200 meters (yards) inland, damaging homes.
"There are reports of two villages hit and four people missing on the island of Mono," Solomon Islands' chief government spokesman, Alfred Maesulia told Reuters from Honiara, the capital of the string of islands.
Mono is in the Treasuries Islands, an isolated group of islands in the far west of the Solomons.
Japan's NHK television said that at least three people were reported to had died and many houses had been destroyed.
Japan's meteorological agency said on its Web site that a tsunami of 0.15 meter (6 inches) was recorded in Honiara, and that were a tsunami wave to reach Japan it would be around 0400 GMT.
The Pacific
Tsunami Warning Center in Hawaii placed the center of the quake around 350 km (220 miles) north-west of Honiara. The quake, centered about 10 km (six miles) below the surface of the ocean, struck at around 6:40 a.m. (2040 GMT on Sunday).
Solomons police spokesman Mick Spinks said communications with the area were poor, but some tidal damage had been reported on the islands of Gizo, where a hotel had been destroyed, Lefung and Taro.
Geological agencies, including those in Australia and Japan, put the magnitude of the quake at 8.1 while the
U.S. Geological Survey's (USGS) revised its earlier estimate to 8.0.
Ada Akao from Australia's High Commission in Honiara said the quake was felt in Honiara but no buildings in the city appeared to have been damaged.
"It lasted ... let's say two minutes. Not much damage here. We felt a gentle rock. Nothing bad happened," Akao told Australian Broadcasting Corp. radio.
The initial tremor was followed around seven minutes later by a second one, centered further west, of magnitude 6.7, USGS said.
Australia issued a tsunami alert for the far north coast of Queensland state, including the tourist city of Cooktown and the Willis and Barrier Reef islands. "We haven't actually had any reports of significant tsunami damage or tsunami waves, but it would take some time for waves to reach tidal gauges," senior forecaster John Turnbull from the bureau told Reuters.
The tsunami warning center said that areas north of the Solomon islands should not be significantly affected.
Sun Apr 1, 8:16 PM ET
CANBERRA (Reuters) - Several people were feared dead on Monday after a powerful earthquake in the South Pacific sent a tsunami wave into the Solomon Islands, officials said.
A tsunami warning was also issued for other Pacific rim countries, including Indonesia, Papua New Guinea and Australia, after the shallow quake, which had a magnitude of at least 8.0.
Solomon Islands Broadcasting Corporation in Honiara said residents on Simbo islands had reported waves traveling up to 200 meters (yards) inland, damaging homes.
"There are reports of two villages hit and four people missing on the island of Mono," Solomon Islands' chief government spokesman, Alfred Maesulia told Reuters from Honiara, the capital of the string of islands.
Mono is in the Treasuries Islands, an isolated group of islands in the far west of the Solomons.
Japan's NHK television said that at least three people were reported to had died and many houses had been destroyed.
Japan's meteorological agency said on its Web site that a tsunami of 0.15 meter (6 inches) was recorded in Honiara, and that were a tsunami wave to reach Japan it would be around 0400 GMT.
The Pacific
Tsunami Warning Center in Hawaii placed the center of the quake around 350 km (220 miles) north-west of Honiara. The quake, centered about 10 km (six miles) below the surface of the ocean, struck at around 6:40 a.m. (2040 GMT on Sunday).
Solomons police spokesman Mick Spinks said communications with the area were poor, but some tidal damage had been reported on the islands of Gizo, where a hotel had been destroyed, Lefung and Taro.
Geological agencies, including those in Australia and Japan, put the magnitude of the quake at 8.1 while the
U.S. Geological Survey's (USGS) revised its earlier estimate to 8.0.
Ada Akao from Australia's High Commission in Honiara said the quake was felt in Honiara but no buildings in the city appeared to have been damaged.
"It lasted ... let's say two minutes. Not much damage here. We felt a gentle rock. Nothing bad happened," Akao told Australian Broadcasting Corp. radio.
The initial tremor was followed around seven minutes later by a second one, centered further west, of magnitude 6.7, USGS said.
Australia issued a tsunami alert for the far north coast of Queensland state, including the tourist city of Cooktown and the Willis and Barrier Reef islands. "We haven't actually had any reports of significant tsunami damage or tsunami waves, but it would take some time for waves to reach tidal gauges," senior forecaster John Turnbull from the bureau told Reuters.
The tsunami warning center said that areas north of the Solomon islands should not be significantly affected.