A powerful magnitude 8.0(initially 7.6) earthquake hit in the South Pacific Monday off the Solomon Islands, at 7:40 a.m. resulting in a tsunami about 2-8 feet high which struck the coast of Solomon Islands, mainly Gizo while triggering a region wide tsunami warning/watches extending from Japan to New Zealand including the eastern seaboard of Australia.
"There wasn't any warning - the warning was the earth tremors," Alex Lokopio, the premier of the Solomon's Western Province, told New Zealand's National Radio. "It shook us very, very strongly and we were frightened, and all of a sudden the sea was rising up."
The disaster from Solomon Islands, destroyed houses, food gardens and a hospital. Currently at least 13 people were reported killed and dozens more injured, local officials reported.
"Some villages are completely wiped out," said Fred Fakari, the chairman of the Solomons National Disaster Council.
The series of waves sparked then crashed violently, washing homes and panicked residents fled for higher ground. Resident Judith Kennedy said water "right up to your head" swept through the Gizo.
Gizo, with a population of about 10,000, is the capital of the Western province in the Solomon Islands. It is situated on an island approximately 380 kilometers west-northwest of the capital, Honiara, and is just southwest of the larger island of Kolombangara.
Source: AFP, AP
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