February 6, 2013 Tsunami: Santa Cruz Islands, Solomon Islands

Assessments confirm 588 houses have been totally destroyed and 478 houses have been partially damaged, affecting 4,509 people, an estimated 37 percent of the population of Santa Cruz Island. 10 people confirmed dead and 15 injured. (reference #10497 & #13046)

A powerful magnitude 8.0 earthquake off the Solomon Islands generated a tsunami of up to 5 feet that killed at least 5 people, a hospital official says, while the death toll is feared to rise as officials inspect dozens of damaged homes... Solomons officials reported two 1.5-meter (4 foot, 11 inch) waves hit the western side of Santa Cruz Island, damaging between 70 and 80 homes and properties, said George Herming, a spokesman for the prime minister. Many villagers of the South Pacific island chain had headed to higher ground as a precaution, Herming said. Dozens of aftershocks stronger than magnitude 5 followed the quake. In Honiara, the warnings prompted residents to flee for higher ground... Four villages on Santa Cruz were impacted by the waves, with two facing severe damage, Lansley said. Other areas of the Solomons did not appear to have been seriously affected. (reference #10441)

The sea surge following the earthquake cut water and electricity and forced about 4,000 people, including 20 World Vision staff members, to move to central Lata, about 150 meters above sea level, the aid agency said in an e-mailed statement. Government officials confirmed four people were killed and some may be missing, World Vision said. (reference #10442)

A multi-disciplinary international tsunami survey team (ITST) was deployed within days of the event to document flow depths, runup heights, inundation distances, sediment and coral boulder depositions, land level changes, damage patterns at various scales, performance of the man-made infrastructure and impact on the natural environment. The 19 to 23 February 2013 ITST covered 30 locations on 4 Islands: Ndendo (Santa Cruz), Tomotu Noi (Lord Howe), Nea Tomotu (Trevanion, Malo) and Tinakula. The tsunami impact peaked at Manoputi on Ndendo's densely populated west coast with maximum tsunami height exceeding 11 m and local flow depths above ground exceeding 7 m. A fast tide-like positive amplitude of 1 m was recorded at Lata wharf inside Graciosa Bay on Ndendo Island and misleadingly reported in the media as representative tsunami height. The stark contrast between the field observations on exposed coastlines and the Lata tide gauge recording highlights the importance of rapid tsunami reconnaissance surveys. Inundation distance and damage more than 500 m inland were recorded at Lata airport on Ndendo Island. Landslides were observed on volcanic Tinakula Island and on Ndendo Island. (reference #10837)

10 deaths, 2 million USD total damage (reference #1250)

13 deaths, 36 million USD total damage (reference #13045)