Earthquake triggers tsunami in Solomons

HONIARA, Solomon Islands - A powerful undersea earthquake Monday in the South Pacific sent a tsunami several yards high crashing into the Solomon Islands, devastating at least one village, officials and residents said.

Police and residents said a wave about 10 feet high struck the western town of Gizo, inundating buildings and causing widespread destruction. A man who answered the telephone at the Gizo police station said there were initial reports that eight people, six of them children, had been killed by the tsunami but they were still unconfirmed. The phone cut out abruptly before the man gave his name.

Gizo resident Judith Kennedy said water “right up to your head” swept through the town.

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/17902526/