Debris lies in piles near damaged houses Wednesday on Santa Cruz Island in the eastern Solomons after a powerful magnitude-8 earthquake triggered a tsunami of up to about 5 feet that damaged dozens of homes. Six bodies, including a child’s, have been found in the sodden wreckage.
Waves that roared inland on Santa Cruz Island on Wednesday were too fast to outrun for five elderly villagers and the child, who died after being sucked under the rushing water, George Herming, a spokesman for the prime minister, said today.
Several other people were still missing and dozens of strong aftershocks were keeping frightened villagers from returning to the coast, Herming said.
Smaller waves were recorded in Vanuatu and New Caledonia.
