Santa Cruz, Solomon Island Earthquake and Tsunami UPDATE: several villages destroyed

There was an 8.0 magnitude earthquake a few minutes ago in the vicinity of Santa Cruz Islands, in the South Pacific, and it is now confirmed that this generated a potentially severe tsunami that by now would have hit nearby islands. But, no one has reports from the scene to confirm or elaborate on this. That is a very large earthquake, and apparently shallow.

Info here.

Of special note, in all caps, because that's how meteorologists roll:

http://www.tsunami.gov/product.php?id=TSUPAC.2013

SEA LEVEL READINGS INDICATE A TSUNAMI WAS GENERATED. IT MAY HAVE
BEEN DESTRUCTIVE ALONG COASTS NEAR THE EARTHQUAKE EPICENTER AND
COULD ALSO BE A THREAT TO MORE DISTANT COASTS. AUTHORITIES SHOULD
TAKE APPROPRIATE ACTION IN RESPONSE TO THIS POSSIBILITY. THIS
CENTER WILL CONTINUE TO MONITOR SEA LEVEL DATA TO DETERMINE THE
EXTENT AND SEVERITY OF THE THREAT

UPDATE

Not much info yet, but I'm sure there will be plenty of info tomorrow.

More like this

Actually the all caps is because the older teletype machines could not do lower case. The Baudot code was a 5 bit code, which had a shift key for figures (the figs shift key). Since there are a few meterological institutes that may not have upgraded, the bulletins are still coded using the Baudot code which implies upper case only. So its not that they are shouting the have to deal as much of computing does with legacy systems.

That is a massive earthquake! Was the tsunami weak due to the depth? It seems like we're having more and more earthquakes lately. Good to be prepared. I got a solar generator and solar panels from www.solar2survival.com for some emergency power back up. We're getting stocked up on water, too.

By scott peterson (not verified) on 06 Feb 2013 #permalink

The Solomon Islands 8.0 magnitude earthquake struck
on Feb 6, 2013 at 0112 UTC. A 7.0 magnitude earthquake -
location not specified - was predicted for Feb 6
at 1700 UTC on Astrosymm.com/ONGOINGPREDICTIONS.htm.
A precise symmetric pattern of both Saturn and Uranus
with Pollux in the constellation Gemini was active
on this date. Other symmetric subpatterns contributed
to this intense event. Please check
astrosymm.com/EARTHQUAKES.htm for a diagram of the
symmetry within the ecliptic plane.

By Matt Maddox (not verified) on 07 Feb 2013 #permalink