crazy crazy times we live in On 4/2/07, Vivec <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote: > http://www.ens-newswire.com/ens/apr2007/2007-04-02-01.asp > > And: > > HONIARA, Solomon Islands - A bone-rattling earthquake sparked a > tsunami that sent 10-foot high waves crashing into parts of the > Solomon Islands on Monday, wiping out one village and killing at least > 13 people. The death toll was expected to rise. > > The large waves struck the western town of Gizo, inundating buildings > and causing widespread destruction within five minutes of the > earthquake. > > "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." > > 'People were seen floating' > Julian Makaa, spokesman for the Solomons National Disaster Management > Office, said numerous villages in the country's remote west were > reporting people being swept away as waves plowed through their > communities. > > Reports remained sketchy because communications were reduced in many > cases to scratchy two-way radio lines. Emergency officials have yet to > be able to reach the area hit by the tsunami and communications with > the area is limited. > > Alfred Maesulia, the information director in Prime Minister Manasseh > Sogavare's office, said late Monday that 13 people had been killed and > an unknown number were still missing. > > > "Some people were seen floating on the sea during the big waves but it > was very difficult to go near them," Maesulia told The Associated > Press. "The number at the moment is 13. It's possible that number will > increase, maybe double up or even more." > > Lokopio said he witnessed a large wave crashing into the island. > > "I saw the wave ... all of a sudden the water was just rising up and > moved toward the island and hit all the houses on the coastal area, > and all of their property was washed away to the open sea," he said. > > 'Completely inundated' > 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 flooded. > > "Two villages were reported to have been completely inundated," McLeod > told Australian Broadcasting Corp. radio. > > National police spokesman Mick Spinks said "our biggest problem is > communications, because most of the high frequency radio system there > was submerged." > > Gizo resident Judith Kennedy said water "right up to your head" swept > through the town. > > "All the houses near the sea were flattened," she told The Associated > Press by telephone. "The downtown area is a very big mess from the > tsunami and the earthquake," she added. "A lot of houses have > collapsed. The whole town is still shaking" from aftershocks. > > The U.S. Geological Survey said the quake measured magnitude-8.0 and > struck at 7:39 a.m. about 6 miles beneath the sea floor, 217 miles > northwest of the capital, Honiara. > > Regional warnings downgraded > The Pacific region from Australia to Hawaii went on high alert for > several hours after the quake struck between the islands of > Bougainville and New Georgia. > > But the region-wide warnings were downgraded as the danger period > passed. There was no repeat of 2004 tsunami disaster, when a magnitude > 9 quake sent massive waves slamming into the coastlines of a dozen > countries around the Indian Ocean's rim, killing or leaving missing > about 230,000 people. > > Gizo, a regional center, is just 25 miles from the earthquake's epicenter. > > Another witness in the town, dive shop owner Danny Kennedy, Judith's > father, estimated the height of the wave at 10 feet. > > "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 mobilize 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." > > Harry Wickham, who owns a waterfront hotel in Gizo, said the damage > was widespread. > > "The waves came up probably about 10 feet and swept through town," he > told Australia's Nine Network television by telephone. "There's a lot > of water damage and a lot of debris floating around," he added. > > "Ten feet of water washing through town you can imagine what damage > it has done here." > > A town in the west, Munda, was believed to be badly damaged, officials > and the Solomon Islands Broadcasting Corp. said, but details were not > confirmed. > >
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