TOKYO: At least three people died Monday after a tsunami hit the
Solomon Islands following a powerful earthquake, Japanese public
broadcaster NHK reported, quoting a local official in the affected
area.
"This morning when we were arranging to go to work, (a) very strong
earthquake hit this island with tidal waves, tsunami, and destroyed
all the houses along the coastal area," the chief of the Solomons
western district told NHK.
"I think it was more than five metres (high). They found three
people dead in different locations," the official said in a
telephone interview with NHK, which did not give his name.
The US Geological Survey meanwhile upgraded its estimate of the
quake to a magnitude of 8.0, from an earlier reading of 7.6. The
quake prompted an immediate warning from the Pacific Tsunami
Warning Centre.
We are now looking into the possibility of tidal waves hitting the
Japanese archipelago," an agency official said. - AFP/ir
