7.6 Earthquake in the South Pacific

Tsunami alert for Qld coast after Solomons earthquake


Ada Akao from the Australian High Commission in Honiara says she felt rumblings from the earthquake this morning but believes no buildings in the city have been damaged by the tremor.

"We felt an earthquake this morning," she confirmed.

"It lasted ... let's say two minutes. Not much damage here. We felt a gentle rock. Nothing bad happened."

However, a journalist at the Solomon Islands Broadcasting Corporation in Honiara told ABC Newsradio that early reports from the island of Simbo spoke of damage to houses and waves travelling 200 metres inland.

Solomons police say there have been no reports of fatalities but they have confirmed some tidal damage to property on the islands of Gizo, Lefung and Taro.

PFNet Email operator Sione report from Simbo, that villages are washed away by tidal waves. It was reported that an earth quake caused the tidal waves is the big experienced on the Island. He estimate wave washed inland a distant of about two hundred meters (200m) from the shoreline.
It was reported that 15 houses of Marusu village are destroyed and Form 2 classroom of Legana Community High School. He estimates almost every building of Tapurai village on the Island are washed away.

Other coastal villages on the Western and Choiseul provinces have reports of destroyed building and other domestic animal washed away.

www.peoplefirst.net.sb...

TSUNAMI BULLETIN NUMBER 003
PACIFIC TSUNAMI WARNING CENTER/NOAA/NWS
ISSUED AT 2239Z 01 APR 2007

THIS BULLETIN IS FOR ALL AREAS OF THE PACIFIC BASIN EXCEPT
ALASKA - BRITISH COLUMBIA - WASHINGTON - OREGON - CALIFORNIA.

NOTE: AREAS TO THE NORTH OF THE SOLOMON ISLANDS SHOULD NOT BE SIGNIFICANTLY
AFFECTED

... A TSUNAMI WARNING AND WATCH REMAIN IN EFFECT ...

A TSUNAMI WARNING IS IN EFFECT FOR

SOLOMON IS. / PAPUA NEW GUINEA / VANUATU / NEW CALEDONIA / NORTHEASTERN
AUSTRALIA / TUVALU / KIRIBATI / FIJI /

A TSUNAMI WATCH IS IN EFFECT FOR

KERMADEC IS / NEW ZEALAND /

FOR ALL OTHER PACIFIC AREAS, THIS MESSAGE IS AN ADVISORY ONLY.

AN EARTHQUAKE HAS OCCURRED WITH THESE PRELIMINARY PARAMETERS

ORIGIN TIME - 2040Z 01 APR 2007
COORDINATES - 8.6 SOUTH 157.2 EAST
LOCATION - SOLOMON ISLANDS
MAGNITUDE - 8.1

MEASUREMENTS OR REPORTS OF TSUNAMI WAVE ACTIVITY
HONIARA 15CM ZERO-TO-PEAK OBSERVED AT 21:37 GMT

EVALUATION

SEA LEVEL READINGS INDICATE A TSUNAMI WAS GENERATED. IT MAY HAVE
BEEN DESTRUCTIVE ALONG COASTS NEAR THE EARTHQUAKE EPICENTER AND
COULD ALSO BE A THREAT TO MORE DISTANT COASTS. AUTHORITIES SHOULD
TAKE APPROPRIATE ACTION IN RESPONSE TO THIS POSSIBILITY. THIS
CENTER WILL CONTINUE TO MONITOR SEA LEVEL DATA TO DETERMINE THE
EXTENT AND SEVERITY OF THE THREAT.

FOR ALL AREAS - WHEN NO MAJOR WAVES ARE OBSERVED FOR TWO HOURS
AFTER THE ESTIMATED TIME OF ARRIVAL OR DAMAGING WAVES HAVE NOT
OCCURRED FOR AT LEAST TWO HOURS THEN LOCAL AUTHORITIES CAN ASSUME
THE THREAT IS PASSED. DANGER TO BOATS AND COASTAL STRUCTURES CAN
CONTINUE FOR SEVERAL HOURS DUE TO RAPID CURRENTS. AS LOCAL
CONDITIONS CAN CAUSE A WIDE VARIATION IN TSUNAMI WAVE ACTION THE
ALL CLEAR DETERMINATION MUST BE MADE BY LOCAL AUTHORITIES.

ESTIMATED INITIAL TSUNAMI WAVE ARRIVAL TIMES. ACTUAL ARRIVAL TIMES
MAY DIFFER AND THE INITIAL WAVE MAY NOT BE THE LARGEST. THE TIME
BETWEEN SUCCESSIVE TSUNAMI WAVES CAN BE FIVE MINUTES TO ONE HOUR.

LOCATION COORDINATES ARRIVAL TIME
-------------------------------- ------------ ------------
SOLOMON IS. MUNDA 8.4S 157.2E 2039Z 01 APR
FALAMAE 7.4S 155.6E 2103Z 01 APR
PANGGOE 6.9S 157.2E 2120Z 01 APR
HONIARA 9.3S 160.0E 2121Z 01 APR
GHATERE 7.8S 159.2E 2122Z 01 APR
AUKI 8.8S 160.6E 2134Z 01 APR
KIRAKIRA 10.4S 161.9E 2140Z 01 APR
PAPUA NEW GUINE AMUN 6.0S 154.7E 2124Z 01 APR
KIETA 6.1S 155.6E 2133Z 01 APR
RABAUL 4.2S 152.3E 2145Z 01 APR
LAE 6.8S 147.0E 2218Z 01 APR
KAVIENG 2.5S 150.7E 2223Z 01 APR
MADANG 5.2S 146.0E 2241Z 01 APR
PORT MORESBY 9.5S 147.0E 2254Z 01 APR
MANUS IS. 2.0S 147.5E 2259Z 01 APR
WEWAK 3.5S 143.6E 2325Z 01 APR
VANIMO 2.6S 141.3E 2350Z 01 APR
VANUATU ESPERITU SANTO 15.1S 167.3E 2236Z 01 APR
ANATOM IS. 20.2S 169.9E 2322Z 01 APR
NAURU NAURU 0.5S 166.9E 2311Z 01 APR
CHUUK CHUUK IS. 7.4N 151.8E 2329Z 01 APR
NEW CALEDONIA NOUMEA 22.3S 166.5E 2338Z 01 APR
POHNPEI POHNPEI IS. 7.0N 158.2E 2345Z 01 APR
KOSRAE KOSRAE IS. 5.5N 163.0E 2345Z 01 APR
AUSTRALIA CAIRNS 16.7S 145.8E 2349Z 01 APR
BRISBANE 27.2S 153.3E 0033Z 02 APR

Originally posted by phoenix103
Just for clarity seeing as the media seem to be having difficulty with this, there is no confusion about the magnitude of the quake.

It wasn't 8.anything!

AN EARTHQUAKE OCCURRED WITH THESE PRELIMINARY PARAMETERS

ORIGIN TIME - 6:40 am EST 02 APR 2007
COORDINATES - 8.6 SOUTH 157.2 EAST
LOCATION - SOLOMON ISLANDS
MAGNITUDE - 8.1

www.bom.gov.au...

Originally posted by resistancia




40 - 60 homes have been washed away on the island of Gizo (spelling?)







[edit on 1-4-2007 by resistancia]

A TSUNAMI swept ashore causing damage to towns and villages in the Solomon Islands today following a powerful earthquake, but there were no early reports of casualties, police said.
The tsunami followed after a powerful earthquake with a magnitude of 7.6 struck in the New Georgia Islands region, which had prompted the Pacific Tsunami Warning Centre to issue a tsunami warning.

Originally posted by loam

Can you post your link, because the Australian Bureau of Meteorology says 8.1?

I would, but it seems to have been overwritten. Came from the USGS.

The moment scale is different from the richter scale, I think the press have been mixing them up.

That said, Oz have now issued a warning for Tasmania as well.

p.

Julian McLeod of the Solomon Islands National Disaster Management Office said there were unconfirmed reports that two villages in the country's far west were awash.

"Two villages were reported to have been completely inundated," McLeod told Australian Broadcasting Corp. radio. "We have received reports of four people missing."

A TSUNAMI generated by a powerful earthquake off the Solomon Islands will not pose any problems for residents on the far north Queensland coast, Geoscience Australia said.

The Pacific Tsunami Warning Centre in Hawaii said today a 7.8-magnitude earthquake hit near the Solomon Islands at 6.40am (AEST) and was centred about 350kms west-north-west of the capital Honiara at a depth of 10kms.

Geoscience said it had since revised the quake's strength up to 8.1 on the Richter scale, based on updated calculations.

Originally posted by Hellmutt
The quake happened 2½ hours ago. How long does it take for a tsunami to go from Solomon Islands to Tasmania? Or Hawaii, for that matter...