8.0 Earthquake Hits Santa Cruz Islands in South Pacific

English: Map of the Santa Cruz Islands (Solomon Islands) Deutsch: Karte der Santa-Cruz-Inseln (Salomonen) (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

A massive 8.0 Earthquake has struck the Santa Cruz Islands in the South Pacific. Here are the details on the incident. Several aftershocks have also been reported. A Tsunami Warning was issued but has since been cancelled.

Below are the official details.

Earthquake Details

• This event has been reviewed by a seismologist.

TSUNAMI BULLETIN NUMBER 008
PACIFIC TSUNAMI WARNING CENTER/NOAA/NWS
ISSUED AT 0347Z 06 FEB 2013

THIS BULLETIN APPLIES TO AREAS WITHIN AND BORDERING THE PACIFIC
OCEAN AND ADJACENT SEAS…EXCEPT ALASKA…BRITISH COLUMBIA…
WASHINGTON…OREGON AND CALIFORNIA.

… TSUNAMI WARNING AND WATCH CANCELLATION …

THE TSUNAMI WARNING ISSUED BY THE PACIFIC TSUNAMI
WARNING CENTER IS NOW CANCELLED FOR

SOLOMON ISLANDS / VANUATU / NAURU / PAPUA NEW GUINEA / TUVALU /
NEW CALEDONIA / KOSRAE / FIJI / KIRIBATI / WALLIS AND FUTUNA

THE TSUNAMI WATCH ISSUED BY THE PACIFIC TSUNAMI
WARNING CENTER IS NOW CANCELLED FOR

MARSHALL ISLANDS / HOWLAND AND BAKER / POHNPEI / TOKELAU /
SAMOA / KERMADEC ISLANDS / NEW ZEALAND / AMERICAN SAMOA /
TONGA / AUSTRALIA / NIUE / COOK ISLANDS / INDONESIA /
WAKE ISLAND / CHUUK / JARVIS ISLAND / GUAM / NORTHERN MARIANAS /
PALMYRA ISLAND / YAP / JOHNSTON ISLAND / MINAMITORISHIMA /
BELAU

THIS BULLETIN IS ISSUED AS ADVICE TO GOVERNMENT AGENCIES. ONLY
NATIONAL AND LOCAL GOVERNMENT AGENCIES HAVE THE AUTHORITY TO MAKE
DECISIONS REGARDING THE OFFICIAL STATE OF ALERT IN THEIR AREA AND
ANY ACTIONS TO BE TAKEN IN RESPONSE.

AN EARTHQUAKE HAS OCCURRED WITH THESE PRELIMINARY PARAMETERS

ORIGIN TIME – 0112Z 06 FEB 2013
COORDINATES – 10.9 SOUTH 165.1 EAST
DEPTH – 33 KM
LOCATION – SANTA CRUZ ISLANDS
MAGNITUDE – 8.0

MEASUREMENTS OR REPORTS OF TSUNAMI WAVE ACTIVITY

GAUGE LOCATION LAT LON TIME AMPL PER
——————- —– —— —– ————— —–
LUGANVILLE VU 15.5S 167.2E 0319Z 0.26M / 0.8FT 28MIN
DART 55023 14.8S 153.6E 0326Z 0.05M / 0.2FT 06MIN
HIENGHENE NEW CALED 20.7S 164.9E 0319Z 0.55M / 1.8FT 14MIN
LIFOU NEW CALEDONIA 20.9S 167.3E 0309Z 0.48M / 1.6FT 10MIN
VANUATU 17.8S 168.3E 0255Z 0.15M / 0.5FT 16MIN
DART 52406 5.3S 165.1E 0206Z 0.04M / 0.1FT 10MIN
DART 55012 15.8S 158.5E 0237Z 0.17M / 0.6FT 06MIN
LATA WHARF SB 10.7S 165.8E 0129Z 0.91M / 3.0FT 18MIN

LAT – LATITUDE (N-NORTH, S-SOUTH)
LON – LONGITUDE (E-EAST, W-WEST)
TIME – TIME OF THE MEASUREMENT (Z IS UTC IS GREENWICH TIME)
AMPL – TSUNAMI AMPLITUDE MEASURED RELATIVE TO NORMAL SEA LEVEL.
IT IS …NOT… CREST-TO-TROUGH WAVE HEIGHT.
VALUES ARE GIVEN IN BOTH METERS(M) AND FEET(FT).
PER – PERIOD OF TIME IN MINUTES(MIN) FROM ONE WAVE TO THE NEXT.

NOTE – DART MEASUREMENTS ARE FROM THE DEEP OCEAN AND THEY
ARE GENERALLY MUCH SMALLER THAN WOULD BE COASTAL
MEASUREMENTS AT SIMILAR LOCATIONS.

EVALUATION

SEA LEVEL READINGS INDICATE A TSUNAMI WAS GENERATED. IT MAY HAVE
BEEN DESTRUCTIVE ALONG COASTS NEAR THE EARTHQUAKE EPICENTER. FOR
THOSE AREAS – WHEN NO MAJOR WAVES ARE OBSERVED FOR TWO HOURS
AFTER THE ESTIMATED TIME OF ARRIVAL OR DAMAGING WAVES HAVE NOT
OCCURRED FOR AT LEAST TWO HOURS THEN LOCAL AUTHORITIES CAN ASSUME
THE THREAT IS PASSED. DANGER TO BOATS AND COASTAL STRUCTURES CAN
CONTINUE FOR SEVERAL HOURS DUE TO RAPID CURRENTS. AS LOCAL
CONDITIONS CAN CAUSE A WIDE VARIATION IN TSUNAMI WAVE ACTION THE
ALL CLEAR DETERMINATION MUST BE MADE BY LOCAL AUTHORITIES.

NO TSUNAMI THREAT EXISTS FOR OTHER COASTAL AREAS ALTHOUGH SOME
MAY EXPERIENCE SMALL SEA LEVEL CHANGES. FOR ALL AREAS COVERED BY
THIS CENTER…THE TSUNAMI WARNING AND WATCH ARE CANCELLED.

THIS WILL BE THE FINAL BULLETIN ISSUED FOR THIS EVENT UNLESS
ADDITIONAL INFORMATION BECOMES AVAILABLE.

THE WEST COAST/ALASKA TSUNAMI WARNING CENTER WILL ISSUE PRODUCTS
FOR ALASKA…BRITISH COLUMBIA…WASHINGTON…OREGON…CALIFORNIA.