http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424127887324445904578286703858134458.html
Tsunami Destroys Villages in Solomon Islands
By ENDA CURRAN And KAYLENE HONG
SYDNEY—A powerful earthquake in the South Pacific triggered a tsunami that destroyed villages and killed at least five people in the Solomon Islands Wednesday, according to government and hospital officials.
A wave measuring three feet reached the island chain after the quake hit around midday local time, the Pacific Tsunami Warning Center said. The magnitude-8 quake, with a depth of 17.8 miles (28.7 kilometers), was centered about 220 miles east of the Santa Cruz Islands, part of the Solomon Islands nation, according to a bulletin issued by the U.S. Geological Survey.
A magnitude-6.3 quake had struck minutes earlier in the same area, and there were at least three aftershocks measuring above magnitude-6 later in the day. An initial tsunami warning for the Pacific region was soon canceled.
Official accounts of the extent of the damage in the Solomons remained vague hours after the fact, and a government official said communication with the worst-hit areas remained difficult.
Among the affected areas has been the provincial capital of Lata, a city of about 2,300 in Temotu Province where hospital patients were evacuated to higher ground.
Chris Roger, a registered nurse at Lata Hospital, said by telephone that five deaths had been confirmed; one child, an elderly male and three elderly females.
"Houses have been washed down, and the airport has been filled with seawater," said Charles Elliott Fox-Ngali, also a registered nurse at Lata Hospital who was reached by telephone. MORE@LINK
Subject: 8.0 EQ Santa Cruz Islands 
Tue Feb 05, 2013 11:50 pm
I tought of you as soon as I saw it! 
