Quake off Solomon Islands triggers tsunami

A tsunami has hit the eastern Solomon Islands after a powerful earthquake that briefly triggered tsunami warnings for several Pacific nations.

The magnitude 8.0 quake struck at 01:12 GMT near the Santa Cruz islands, part of the Solomon Islands nation, the US Geological Survey said.

A tsunami measuring 0.9m (3ft) subsequently hit Lata in the far eastern Solomons.

A number of homes are reported to have been damaged in the area.

Lata is the main town on Nendo, also known as Santa Cruz Island, which is the largest island in the Santa Cruz island chain.

Reports suggested that the worst of the damage was expected on the western side of a point on the north-west of the island, with one report putting the height of two waves there at 1.5m.

"The wave went 500m inland, and at this stage I was told that three villages were basically damaged," Robert Iroga, press secretary to the Solomons prime minister, told the BBC, referring to three villages west of Lata.

"Houses were brought down, and the authorities were unable to ascertain as to what the damage was like because they were also running up to the mountains, up to the hills."

Luke Taula, a fisheries officer in Lata, told Reuters news agency the wave came as several small tidal surges.