Solomon Islands Earthquake and Tsunami Disaster

1
Solomon Islands Earthquake and Tsunami Disaster

• April 2, 2007
• A disaster in less than 5 minutes

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Solomon Islands
3
Solomon Islands

• The Solomon Islands is an archipelago of more
  than 200 islands located northeast of Australia
  
• The population is about 552,000.

• The Solomon Islands lie on the Pacific Basins
  Ring of Fire where earthquakes, tsunamis and
  volcanic eruptions occur frequently.

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The Earthquake

• The US Geological Survey assigned a magnitude of
  8.0 to the earthquake, which occurred at 739
  a.m.
  
• The focus was about 10 km (6 miles)
  beneath the ocean floor.

• The quakes epicenter was located 40 km (25
  miles) from Gizo and 355 km (217 miles) northwest
  of the capitol, Honiara.

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The Tsunami

• The tsunami waves struck Gizo, located 40 km (25
  miles) from the epicenter, within five minutes
  after the earthquake.
  
• The waves, which reached 3 m (15 feet) inundated
  buildings and caused widespread damage.

• Located only 40 km from the epicenter, the strong
  ground shaking from the earthquake provided the
  only advance warning in Gizo of a possible
  tsunami.

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Tsunami Wave Run Up

• Without additional information, however, it was
  impossible to estimate the time of arrival of the
  tsunami wave in Gizo.
  

7
The Earthquake and Tsunami

• The downtown area was devastated from the
  combined effects of the ground shaking, the
  aftershocks, and the tsunami wave run up.
  
• All of the houses near the coast were flattened.
  
  
• The initial death toll was estimated at less than
  20, but is expected to rise after all of the
  2,000 to 3,000 people left homeless are contacted.

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Regional Tsunami Alert

• The region from Australia to Hawaii was on high
  alert for several hours after the earthquake.
  
• The alert was based on the possibility of strong
  aftershocks triggering other tsunamis.
  
• Also, the memory of the Indian Ocean tsunami
  triggered by the 26 December 2004 Indonesian
  earthquake is still fresh.