written by Staff
January 5, 2009 2:00am pst
(UKPA) Landslides and a tsunami unleashed by a major earthquake has destroyed some 200 houses on one Solomon island, leaving about one-third of the population homeless.
Visual assessments from the air show extensive damage on a remote western island after a 7.2-magnitude tremor struck near the Pacific Solomon Islands on Monday, said disaster management office director Loti Yates.
No injuries have been reported some 30 hours after the biggest in a series of quakes triggered a tsunami wave which was up to 10ft high as it ploughed into the coast, officials said.
However, more than 1,000 people have been affected after some 200 houses were destroyed on Rendova, an island 190 miles from the capital Honiara. Only 3,600 people live on Rendova.
Photographs taken from police helicopters show debris lining the foreshore and damaged houses on the coasts of Rendova and Tetepare, as well as deep scars on hills and cliffs caused by landslides.
Hillsides crashed down and the tsunami inundated homes, but residents' experience of earlier disasters probably helped prevent any casualties, officials and residents said.
In April 2007, an 8.1 tremor unleashed a tsunami which killed more than 50 people. An earthquake-triggered tsunami which killed more than 200 on nearby Samoa and Tonga in September was another reminder, locals said.
"People are very sensitive, as a quake conjures up memories and people immediately begin going to higher ground," police commissioner Peter Marshall said.
"The fact it was daylight, the isolated nature of the wave and that the landslides were in a relatively sparsely populated area also helped," he said.
The largest quake - magnitude 7.2 - happened about 9.30am local time on Monday and caused the tsunami to hit the coast a short time later. At least nine other quakes greater than magnitude 5.0 have rocked the earthquake-prone region since.
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