TOKYO: At least three people died Monday after a tsunami hit the Solomon Islands following a powerful earthquake, Japanese public broadcaster NHK reported, quoting a local official in the affected area.
"This morning when we were arranging to go to work, (a) very strong earthquake hit this island with tidal waves, tsunami, and destroyed all the houses along the coastal area," the chief of the Solomons western district told NHK.
"I think it was more than five metres (high). They found three people dead in different locations," the official said in a telephone interview with NHK, which did not give his name.
The US Geological Survey meanwhile upgraded its estimate of the quake to a magnitude of 8.0, from an earlier reading of 7.6. The quake prompted an immediate warning from the Pacific Tsunami Warning Centre.
We are now looking into the possibility of tidal waves hitting the Japanese archipelago," an agency official said. - AFP/ir
