Pacific town destroyed by Tsunami

A massive undersea earthquake sent a tsunami crashing into the South Pacific nation of Solomon Islands today, destroying at least one town and killing eight people, including six children, officials said.

The Pacific region, from Australia to Hawaii, went on high alert for several hours after the magnitude-8 quake struck between the islands of Bougainville and New Georgia, though officials cancelled a region-wide tsunami warning after the danger period passed.

Police and residents said a wave several metres high crashed ashore at Gizo, a regional centre in the country’s west just 25 miles from the epicentre, inundating buildings and causing widespread destruction.

“All the houses near the sea were flattened,” as water “right up to your head” swept through the town, resident Judith Kennedy said.

“The downtown area is a very big mess from the tsunami and the earthquake,” she said, adding that aftershocks were still being felt several hours later. “A lot of houses have collapsed. The whole town is still shaking.”

Another witness, dive shop owner Danny Kennedy, estimated the height of the wave at 10 feet (3 metres).

“I’m driving down the street – there are boats in the middle of the road, buildings have completely collapsed and fallen down,” he said in a telephone interview.

“We’re just trying to mobilise water and food, and shelter for people at the moment because … in the town alone there’s going to be between 2,000-3,000 homeless. It’s not a very good scene at the moment.”

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 phone cut out before the man gave his name.

Another town in Western Province, Munda, was also believed to be badly damaged, officials and the national broadcaster said, but communications were difficult and details were not confirmed.

The US Geological Centre said the magnitude 7.6 earthquake struck about six miles beneath the sea floor about 215 miles northwest of the Solomons capital of Honiara at 7.39am (8.39 Irish-time yesterday).

It later upgraded the strength to magnitude 8.

The Hawaii-based Pacific Tsunami Warning Centre said quakes of that strength could cause a destructive tsunami and issued a warning bulletin for the Solomon Islands and neighbouring Papua New Guinea.

It ordered a lower-level “tsunami watch” for other places, including most South Pacific countries, but later cancelled the alert.

A cautionary alert for Hawaii was also cancelled.

Police Sergeant Godfrey Abiah said in Honiara that police in Gizo had received warning about a possible tsunami and were helping people leave the town for higher ground when the wave hit.

“We have lost radio contact with the two police stations down there and we’re not getting any clear picture from down there,” said.

A spokesman for Prime Minister Manasseh Sogavare, Deli Oso, said the quake was felt in Honiara but no damage was done.

The Australian Bureau of Meteorology said it had detected no tsunami threat for Australia’s northeast coast, one of the area’s listed on the earlier warning.