The wall of water triggered by the 8.0-magnitude quake -- which witnesses said was up to five metres (16.5 feet) high -- swamped towns, flattened homes, and sparked panic among residents of the impoverished South Pacific state.

"My heart goes out to all of you in this very trying time," Prime Minister Manasseh Sogavare said in an address to the nation.

He warned the death toll would probably rise after rescue teams reach the stricken areas in the west of the archipelago and the true extent of the damage became known.

The Pacific Tsunami Warning Centre issued a regionwide warning immediately after the quake, stretching as far as Japan, but withdrew the alert when it became clear other countries would not be seriously affected.

An earthquake off Indonesia's island of Sumatra in December 2004 spawned a tsunami that spread across the Indian Ocean, killing 220,000 people.

At least 15 people were killed in and around Gizo, the main town in Western Province and a popular tourist and diving spot about 40 kilometres (25 miles) from Monday's quake epicentre, its provincial leader said.

"Reports have come in that more than 15 people died, just around Gizo, but with the other islands I cannot tell you," premier Alex Lokopio told Radio New Zealand.

Police said they had reports of at least 14 dead, 12 in the Gizo area and two elderly men in nearby Choiseul province.

Telephone lines to the area were down, making it hard to assess the number of casualties and damage.

A helicopter and aircraft sent to assess the damage were diverted to ferry the injured to hospitals. A fuller assessment would emerge when they returned to the area Tuesday, police spokesman Mick Spinks said.

But the head of the Solomons National Disaster Council, Fred Fakari, told journalists in Honiara: "Some villages are completely wiped out."

The government's communications unit reported six bodies found floating in the sea near Gizo, hours after the shallow quake struck at 7:40 am (2040 GMT Sunday).

It said other bodies could not be retrieved because of rough seas.

The US Geological Survey reported aftershocks measuring up to 6.7 throughout Monday, including quakes of of 6.2 and 6.0 on Monday evening. Geophysicists warned that more large earthquakes could be expected in the coming days.

Across the Pacific, governments from Australia to New Caledonia evacuated schools and urged coastal residents to move to higher ground, but no damage was reported.

But on Australia's east coast, panicked residents evacuated homes, hospitals, schools and beaches and fled to high ground as fears of a destructive tsunami rippled across the region.

The panic hit after a powerful, eight-magnitude earthquake struck the Solomon Islands at 7:40 am (2040 GMT Sunday), sending a tsunami smashing into nearby low-lying islands.

Lokopio said they badly needed emergency supplies for Gizo, where residents remained on a hill behind town because of aftershocks.

"What we desperately need now is water, tents and food because almost 3,000 to 4,000 people are now living on the hill at Gizo."

He said people had been surprised by the waves. "There wasn't any warning," he said. "This was a very sad thing because the warning was the earth tremors. It shook us very, very strongly and we were frightened.

"All of a sudden, the sea was rising up so all the people living around the coastal area, they ran up on the hill."

Lokopio said that most government buildings and businesses in Gizo had been destroyed as well as houses in low-lying areas.

Police said that witnesses reported waves washing up to 500 metres (yards) inland.

Australian Foreign Minister Alexander Downer said Canberra had made an initial offer of up to two million dollars (159 million US) in emergency and reconstruction assistance to the Solomon Islands.

The Solomon Islands, 2,575 kilometres east of Australia, has a little over half a million people living on dozens of islands, although hundreds more are uninhabited.

It is part of the Pacific "Ring of Fire" where continental plates meet and experiences frequent volcanic and seismic activity, and a leading Australian seismologist warned of further quakes to come.

"We should be aware there is a better than 50-50 chance that there'll be another magnitude 8.0 earthquake in the Solomon Islands in the next few hours to the next few weeks," Professor Kevin McCue told the Australian Associated Press.

"This happened in 1971, 1973, 1974 and 1977, so we have a good track record of this kind of thing happening," said McCue, the director of the Australian Seismological Centre.

Email This Article

Related Links
Bring Order To A World Of Disasters