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Monday
morning at 07:39:56 Solomon Islands local time (2007 April 1 20:39:56 UTC), a
magnitude 8.0 earthquake struck off the west coast of the New Georgia Group. The
Pacific Tsunami Warning Center issued a series of Regional Tsunami Warning and
related advisories. 
News
reports are still sketchy and rapid assessments are being carried out, but here
is what is known so far. Several places in the New Georgia
Group sustained damage from a large tsunami following the main quake. This included
the local provincial capital Gizo where the tsunami flooded the hospital, local
market and surrounding residences and businesses near the coast and in adjacent
low lying areas. A church and school in this area of Gizo have also been reportedly
flooded. As Gizo was about 50 kms north of the epicentre, residents in low-lying
areas would have had little time to escape especially given the level and magnitude
of the tsunami. The death toll from the tsunami in and around Gizo has been initially
put at between 10-20 with more people reported missing. Damage
reports are also coming in from coastal villages on Rannonga, Vella Lavella, Kolombangara,
Rendova and the main New Georgia Island and its various outliers. This is mainly
along west, southwest, southeast and south facing coasts. The extent of death,
injury and damage is not well known in these more remote areas. Given
the location of the epicentre and the direction, size and extent of the tsunami,
and the layout of the New Georgia Group, the tsunami was seemingly channeled strongly
between Vella Lavella and Kolombangara Islands causing substantial damage to villages
along the southwestern coast of Choiseul Island where damage and some deaths are
being reported between Sasamungga and Posarae. This is one
of the most tectonically active regions on Earth, and Solomon Islanders particularly
on western and southern facing coasts have long known to run uphill immediately
after severe quakes. Solomon Islanders also tend to have a higher percentage of
strong swimmers than many populations affected by the boxing day tsunami 2004.
This may likely have saved many lives although the height of the tsunami and the
proximity of the earthquake's epicentre to the coast would have severely limited
the time and ability that people had to escape, as many in low-lying areas of
Western Province do not have high hills close to their residences. Given
the number of powerful aftershocks, most residents should heed Government warnings
and are well advised to remain on high ground throughout the region for the next
few days, and when entering low-lying areas have a clear plan of retreat to higher
ground the instant any major shaking is felt. The level and
extent of this tsunami should be well taken into account when planning the rebuilding
of village areas particularly with respect to hospitals, schools, churches and
other key public buildings. Outside of the Solomons, particularly
in the Bougainville and Eastern Milne Bay areas of PNG, the tsunami also hit but
with much less force, causing initial reports of only minor damage to some localised
coastal areas. APCEDI
will continue to monitor this situation as more details become clear. | 
