On 6 February 2013 at 01:12:27 UTC (local time: UTC+11), a magnitude
Mw 8.0 earthquake struck 70 km to the west of Ndendo Island (Santa
Cruz Island) in the Solomon Islands. This under-thrusting earthquake
triggered a local tsunami in the Coral Sea and
the South Pacific Ocean. The tsunami killed 10, injured 15, destroyed 588 houses and partially damaged 478 houses,
affecting 4,509 people in 1,066 households corresponding to an
estimated 37% of the population of Santa Cruz Island.
A multi-disciplinary international tsunami survey team (ITST) led by Professor Hermann Fritz deployed within days of the event to document flow depths, runup
heights, inundation distances, sediment and coral boulder depositions,
land level changes, damage patterns at various scales, performance of
the man-made infrastructure and impact on the natural environment. For more information, check the AGU abstract.