Big quake strikes near Solomon Islands

AAPJanuary 4, 2010, 3:40 pm

A powerful 7.2 magnitude earthquake has struck near the Solomon Islands, triggering panic and causing some damage but no major tsunami, officials say.

Several houses collapsed, leaving a number of people homeless, and some tourists reportedly suffered minor injuries, disaster officials said, after a series of tremors shook the area on Monday.

The US Geological Survey said the epicentre of the biggest quake was about 103km from the earthquake-prone island town of Gizo, measured at a

depth of about 30km.

It was the largest of a swarm of tremors centred on the area, which began with a 6.5 magnitude quake early on Monday and was followed several hours later by aftershocks of magnitude 5.3 and 5.2 and 5.7.

On the tiny island of Rendova, near Gizo, several houses collapsed but there were no other reports of damage, Julian Makaa of the National Disaster

Management Office told AFP.

"The earthquake caused a small wave, and a few people suffered minor injuries as they ran away from the shore in panic," he said.

The Disaster Management Office had also received radio reports that some tourists received minor injuries on the conservation island of Tetepare and

there were houses destroyed at Marovo Lagoon, both near Rendova.

"A patrol boat will be sent to the area with water, food and tarpaulins as a precaution," Makaa said, adding residents on the outer islands have been warned "to remain alert for sea and tide fluctuations" as aftershocks continue.

About 10 people have reportedly been made homeless.

An 8.0-magnitude earthquake in the same area nearly three years ago killed 52 people, destroyed hundreds of homes and displaced thousands.

The Hawaii-based tsunami warning centre said the latest earthquake was powerful enough to have been destructive along coasts near the epicentre but

there was no wider threat.

"No tsunami threat exists for other coastal areas in the Pacific although some other areas may experience small, non-destructive, sea-level changes lasting up to several hours," the centre said in a bulletin.

Gizo, on Ghizo island, is the second largest town in the Solomon Islands archipelago with a population of around 6,000.

It is about 360km northwest of the capital Honiara, on the island of Guadalcanal, where residents said they felt shakes but there was no damage.

Honiara is 300km from where the nest of earthquakes was centred.

Geoscience Australia seismologist Clive Collins said the main quake, which was estimated at 7.0 magnitude by Australian seismologists, was probably about 80km from the nearest land.

Further south, in earthquake-prone New Zealand, tremors of 4.3 and 3.5 were recorded over the past 24 hours.

Like much of the Pacific, the Solomons regularly experiences large earthquakes and lies on the Pacific Ring of Fire which generates most of the

world's major tremors.

Gizo harbour lost most of it wharves and jetties in the 2007 quake and subsequent tsunami which was officially put at five metres high but with some

reports of a 10-metre-high wall of water.

On September 29 last year, a devastating tsunami swept along coasts in the Pacific islands of Samoa and Tonga, killing 186 people and wiping out entire

villages.

Villages and resorts in Samoa, American Samoa and northern Tonga were flattened by the giant waves generated by the massive earthquake, the strongest

in nearly a century.

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