An earthquake that gave rise to a deadly tsunami hit Solomon Islands Today in South Pacific damaging homes and killing several people. The death toll is expected to rise.
The tsunami was approximately 5 feet and five deaths have been reported until now by the police. However, the death toll is expected to rise. It also damaged more than 80 homes and properties, reported George Herming, a spokesman for the prime minister. CBS news also reported Herming as saying that many people in the area had to move to higher grounds as a precautionary measure.
Solomon Islands Police Commissioner John Lansley revealed that while only four deaths were confirmed, reports of several more dead have yet to be confirmed.
"Sadly, we believe some people have lost their lives," he said. "At the moment we potentially know of four, but there may of course be more."
Lansley also reported that the waves affected four villages on Santa Cruz while two of them were severely damaged.
After warnings were issued people from Honiara were spotted fleeing for higher ground.
"People are still standing on the hills outside of Honiara just looking out over the water, trying to observe if there is a wave coming in," said Herming in an official statement.
Atenia Tahu, a staff at the Solomon Islands Broadcasting Corp. in Honiara, said most people were calm and not panicking.
"People around the coast and in the capital are ringing in and trying to get information from us and the National Disaster Office and are slowly moving up to higher ground," Tahu said. "But panic? No, no, no, people are not panicking."
