LUCKY is hardly the right word, but had the tsunami that struck the Solomon Islands this week arrived a few hours earlier, many more people might have died.
At 0740 local time on Monday 2 April (2040 GMT on Sunday), an earthquake of magnitude 8.1 occurred in shallow waters 350 kilometres north-west of the islands鈥� capital, Honiara.
A second tremor of magnitude 6.7 followed 7 minutes later. The quakes triggered a tsunami several metres high that swept away entire villages and is known to have killed at least 12 people as New 杏吧原创 went to press, with many more missing.
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鈥淭he quakes triggered a tsunami that swept away entire villages鈥�
Many people on the islands saw the sea receding before the tsunami and escaped, says Manasseh Sogavare, the islands鈥� prime minister. Had the wave struck during the night, more would have been asleep in bed.
Within 15 minutes of the quake, a tsunami warning was issued across the Pacific basin. The islands were too near the epicentre for the warning to reach them in time.
