CNN: People missing after Tsunami

[MiniMe]

CANBERRA, Australia (Reuters) -- Several people were missing on Monday after a powerful earthquake in the South Pacific hit the Solomon Islands, triggering a small tsunami, officials said.

A tsunami warning was also issued for other Pacific Rim countries, including Indonesia, Papua New Guinea and Australia, after the shallow quake, which had a magnitude of at least 8.0.

"It was just like a real extreme tide. We didn't get like a huge big impact wave," Danny Kennedy, a dive shop owner and provincial politician on Gizo island told Reuters.

"The water just came up about probably about 4 to 5 meters (12 to 15 feet) above sea level, and kind of just went up into the communities and doused everything," he said.

From the capital Honiara, Solomon Islands Broadcasting Corp. said residents on Simbo island had reported waves traveling up to 200 meters (220 yards) inland, damaging homes.

"There are reports of two villages hit and four people missing on the island of Mono," Solomon Islands' chief government spokesman, Alfred Maesulia told Reuters from the capital of the the string of islands.

http://www.cnn.com/2007/WORLD/asiapcf/04/01/quake.reut/index.html

[Breeze54]

1. Thanks for the update.

I haven't heard anything locally, since this morning.

[Forkboy]

2. 3 dead in Gizo,Solomon Islands

Situation Update No. 2 On 01.04.2007 at 23:57 GMT+2

Japan's NHK television said on Monday that at least three people were reported to have died in the Solomon Islands following a powerful earthquake. NHK quoted a local official, who, speaking by telephone in Gizo, said the 8.1 magnitude quake in the Pacific Ocean caused tidal waves and many houses were destroyed on the coast of Gizo. Three people were found dead in different locations there, he said. A tsunami warning had been issued for the region.

Situation Update No. 3 On 02.04.2007 at 00:20 GMT+2
Police in the western town of Gizo reported a wave several yards high crashing ashore, shortly before communications with the two police stations in the town were cut, said Sgt. Godfrey Abiah in the capital, Honiara. Harry Wickham, a hotel worker in Gizo, told New Zealand television many buildings along the waterfront had been damaged. "There was 10 feet of water rushing through town, there's been damage," he said.

http://visz.rsoe.hu/alertmap/woalert_read.php?cid=10636&cat=dis&lang=eng