| Situation Update No. 2 Ref.no.: EQ-20100104-24422-SLB
Situation Update No. 2
On 2010-01-05 at 05:11:18 [UTC]
Event: Earthquake
Location: Solomon Islands Tetepare, Rendova Situation: More than 500 houses were reported damaged and an unconfirmed number of people injured after two big earthquakes struck Western Province yesterday morning. Amongst those injured were tourists, the National Disaster Management Office (NDMO) reports. NDMO said that they were still yet to verify the number of tourists and their nationalities. According to NDMO they have received unconfirmed reports from all over the province of effects from the quakes. NDMO’s Media Officer Julian Maka’a told Solomon Star that amongst the injured was a man from Baniata village in Rendova who panicked and tried to escape to higher ground after witnessing changes in the sea level. Mr Maka’a added that apart from that as of 2:30pm yesterday 500 villages in Marovo were reported to have washed away by big waves including some canoes and houses in Tetepare. “These are the reports we received from the police in Gizo but we still need to confirm them. But there are no casualties reported to us”, he said. Yesterday the government met with NDMO officials and about 2pm, a chopper was dispatched with a four-man team to assess the affected areas. Mr Maka’a said the team should arrive back in Honiara today with the full report of the situation in province. Meanwhile, Mr Maka’a said patrol boat Lata left for Western Province at 6pm yesterday with relief supplies for the affected areas. Yesterday morning two separate earthquakes struck Western province with the second reportedly causing more damage than the first. According to the Pacific Tsunami Warning Centre in Hawaii, the first earthquake with a magnitude of 6.6 occurred at 08:48am, 36km South South East of Rendova whilst the second earthquake measuring up to 7.2 in magnitude reportedly occurred at 10:37am south-south east of Gizo. However, the centre issued no warnings of a tsunami threat within the country and the region but stated that coastal areas would experience high swells and changes with the sea level. NDMO have advised people living in the affected areas to move to higher ground as a precaution. |  |
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