[Ernest_at_the_Beach]

BBC Report:

Tsunami strikes Solomon Islands

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Last Updated: Monday, 2 April 2007, 00:37 GMT 01:37 UK

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Tsunami strikes Solomon Islands

A tsunami has swept ashore in the Solomon Islands following a strong undersea earthquake in the South Pacific Ocean.

Waves said to be several metres high crashed into some of the Solomons' western islands. There were unconfirmed reports of people missing.

Tsunami warnings were also issued for Papua New Guinea, north-east Australia, and some other Pacific islands.

The quake measured 8.0 and hit at 0740 local time on Monday (2040 GMT Sunday).

It struck 345km (215 miles) north-west of the Solomon Islands' capital Honiara, north-east of Australia, the US Geological Survey said, at a depth of 10km (six miles) below the surface.

Sergeant Godfrey Abiah of the Solomons police force said the waves had hit the town of Gizo, in the New Georgia Islands region in the west of the Solomons, which was only 45km (25 miles) from the epicentre of the quake.

There was 10ft of water rushing through town Harry Wickham Hotel worker, Gizo

He said police in Gizo had been urging people to leave coastal areas when the tsunami hit, but communications were lost soon afterwards.

"We have lost radio contact with the two police stations down there and we're not getting any clear picture," he told The Associated Press.

Julian McLeod, a Solomon Islands disaster management official, said: "Two villages were reported to have been completely inundated.

"We have received reports of four people missing."

Japanese public broadcaster NHK reported that at least three people had been killed.

Evacuation

Harry Wickham, a hotel worker in Gizo, told New Zealand television by phone that many buildings along the water front had been damaged.

"There was 10ft of water rushing through town," he said.

Britain's deputy high commissioner in Honiara told the BBC that four people were missing from Mono Island. He said all the residents of Taro Island had been evacuated.

The Pacific Tsunami Warning Center said a much smaller wave, of 15cm (6in) had been reported in Honiara.

The centre initially issued a warning for all countries in the South Pacific region.

Later it was downscaled, but authorities in the Solomon Islands, Papua New Guinea, Vanuatu, New Caledonia, north-eastern Australia, Tuvalu, Kiribati, and Fiji, were being advised to stay on alert.

Experts in Japan and Hawaii were also monitoring the situation.

[Ernest_at_the_Beach]

Rocking and Rolling......lots of aftershocks.....

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Update time = Mon Apr 2 0:44:35 UTC 2007

	MAG	UTC DATE-TIME y/m/d h:m:s	LAT deg	LON deg	DEPTH km	Region
MAP	2.5	2007/04/02 00:13:29	37.378	-118.380	13.8	CENTRAL CALIFORNIA
MAP	5.0	2007/04/02 00:10:56	-7.077	155.888	10.0	SOLOMON ISLANDS
MAP	3.2	2007/04/01 23:34:04	53.815	-163.003	50.0	UNIMAK ISLAND REGION, ALASKA
MAP	5.8	2007/04/01 22:57:23	-7.321	155.995	10.0	SOLOMON ISLANDS
MAP	2.6	2007/04/01 22:39:27	63.317	-146.884	1.0	CENTRAL ALASKA
MAP	3.8	2007/04/01 22:39:15	63.047	-150.882	25.0	CENTRAL ALASKA
MAP	3.0	2007/04/01 21:55:10	64.544	-152.279	15.0	CENTRAL ALASKA
MAP	5.7	2007/04/01 21:45:38	-7.432	155.581	10.0	SOLOMON ISLANDS
MAP	6.4	2007/04/01 21:11:34	-7.441	155.774	10.0	SOLOMON ISLANDS
MAP	6.7	2007/04/01 20:47:32	-7.133	155.661	10.0	SOLOMON ISLANDS
MAP	8.0	2007/04/01 20:39:56	-8.453	156.957	10.0	SOLOMON ISLANDS

[Cindy]

UPDATE:

http://thestar.com.my/news/story.asp?file=/2007/4/2/worldupdates/2007-04-02T060453Z_01_NOOTR_RTRJONC_0_-292917-1&sec=Worldupdates

"Sixty buildings may have collapsed in Solomons - Kyodo"

ARTICLE SNIPPET: "TOKYO (Reuters) - About 60 buildings may have collapsed in the Solomon Islands after a powerful earthquake struck the region on Monday morning, Kyodo news agency quoted a local official as saying."

[kimmie7]

I see PNG is on alert...

just at tonight's church I was teaching the youngsters about PNG and some of our denomination's first missionaries to that area.