Solomon Islands Earthquake: 8.0 Magnitude Tremor Generates Tsunami

An 8.0 magnitude earthquake off the Solomon Islands generated a small tsunami on Wednesday, The Associated Press reported.

Solomons officials reported two 4-foot, 11-inch waves hitting the western coast of Santa Cruz Island. According to George Herming, a spokesman for the prime minister, approximately 50 homes and properties were damaged.

A tsunami of 3 feet was measured in Lata wharf, in the Solomon Islands, The Pacific Tsunami Warning Center reported. Smaller waves also hit Vanuatu and New Caledonia.

Solomon Islands Police Commissioner John Lansley told AP that several people were presumed dead.

"Sadly, we believe some people have lost their lives," he said. "At the moment we potentially know of four, but there may of course be more."

Tsunami warnings issued for the Solomon Islands, Vanuatu, Nauru, Papua New Guinea, Tuvalu, New Caledonia, Kosrae, Fiji, Kiribati, and Wallis and Futuna islands, were later cancelled. A tsunami is not expected to hit the U.S. west coast, Alaska or British Colombia, the West Coast and Alaska Tsunami Warning Center reported.

More from The Associated Press:

More than 50 people were killed and thousands lost their homes in April 2007 when a magnitude 8.1 quake hit the western Solomon Islands, sending waves crashing into coastal villages.

The Solomons comprise more than 200 islands with a population of about 552,000 people. They lie on the "Ring of Fire" ? an arc of earthquake and volcanic zones that stretches around the Pacific Rim and where about 90 percent of the world's quakes occur.

Related on HuffPost:

"; var coords = [-5, -72]; // display fb-bubble FloatingPrompt.embed(this, html, undefined, 'top', {fp_intersects:1, timeout_remove:2000,ignore_arrow: true, width:236, add_xy:coords, class_name: 'clear-overlay'}); });

Source: http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2013/02/06/solomon-islands-earthquake_n_2626762.html

lamichael james lamichael james derrick rose acl earthquake los angeles unemployment 2012 nfl draft grades