A powerful underwater earthquake and a tsunami struck Monday the tiny Solomon Islands, killing at least 12 people and leaving many more missing, international media reported.
The quake swept away entire villages and triggered a Pacific-wide tsunami alert.
The shallow quake, with a magnitude of at least 8.0, levelled buildings and damaged a hospital on Gizo island northwest of capital, Honiara, while a tsunami sucked homes into the sea as thousands of panicked residents fled for higher ground.
"The wave was up to 10-metres high in some villages," Solomon Islands' chief government spokesman Alfred Maesulia told Reuters. "Some villages have been entirely washed away."
Solomons Prime Minister Manasseh Sogavare said the disaster could have been worse if it had happened only a few hours earlier, in darkness, when more people would have been asleep.
The initial tremor was followed around seven minutes later by a second one, centred further west, of magnitude 6.7.
Gary Gibson, who chairs the International Seismological Center executive committee, said the quake was the biggest to hit the Solomons since 1900.