Honiara, Feb 6: A major 8.0 magnitude earthquake was feared to have
flattened villages in the Solomon Islands today, and triggered a
tsunami with destructive potential for Pacific nations' coasts, monitors
said.
A small tsunami wave reached part of the Solomons and watches were in
effect as far afield as Hawaii, the Pacific Tsunami Warning Centre said.
New Zealand was also on guard, but monitors said there was no threat to
Australia.
The US Geological Survey said the quake struck at 0112 GMT
near the Santa Cruz Islands in the Solomons, which have been hit by a
series of strong tremors over the past week, at a depth of 5.8
kilometres.
Two powerful aftershocks of 6.4 and 6.6 magnitude were also recorded.
"Sea level readings indicate a tsunami was generated," the Hawaii-based
Pacific centre said.
"It may have been destructive along coasts near the
earthquake epicentre and could also be a threat to more distant
coasts."
Australia's earthquake monitoring agency and the Pacific centre said a
wave measuring three feet had been recorded at Lata, on the main Santa
Cruz island of Ndende.
"We know that a tsunami has been created,"
Geoscience Australia seismologist David Jepsen told AFP.
He said depending on the location of the quake, bigger waves could hit
elsewhere.
"It's a big earthquake anyway in terms of just the shaking,"
he said. Locals in the Solomons capital Honiara, 580 kilometres from the
epicentre, said the quake was not felt there, but some villages on the
Santa Cruz islands were destroyed, according to a hospital director.
"The information we are getting is that some villages west and south of
Lata along the coast have been destroyed, although we cannot confirm
this yet," the director of nursing at Lata Hospital told AFP. "There was
continuous shaking in Lata but no damaged buildings here," he added.
