Solomon Islands will have their first country-wide geohazard monitoring system next month thanks to a project driven by New Zealand's GNS Science institute.
A family in Kirakira, narrowly escaped with their lives after the wall of their family home collapsed during the 7.8 earthquake which hit Solomon Islands on 9 December, 2016. Photo: World Vision / Gray Nako
Project leader Craig Miller said the work was almost complete and the country will soon have six new monitoring stations feeding data directly to national authorities.
"We've been adding six new stations across the country and those will be all connected to a new data centre in Honiara where they will be able to locate their own earthquakes and make their own hazard assessments related to earthquakes and potentially tsunamis and also monitor a couple of active volcanoes," he said.
Savo Island just off of Guadalcanal with its dormant volcano and ongoing geothermal activity is one local authorities will be keeping an eye on given its proximity to the capital Honiara. Photo: Geodynamics Limited
Dr Miller said GNS has been working throughout the year to increase the Solomon's capability to identify, manage and detect hazards such as earthquakes, tsunamis and volcanoes.
"By adding extra stations in the Solomon Islands area it actually improves accuracy of earthquake location, including both position and also the magnitude. Position and magnitude are important for when you are making assessments about whether the likelihood of an earthquake generating a tsunami or not," he said.
The current project was funded by the World Bank.
GNS Scientist Dr Craig Miller Photo: ResearchGate
