Tsunami Forms After South Pacific Quake

A magnitude-8 earthquake struck Wednesday off the Solomon Islands, generating a tsunami that damaged houses along the coasts near the epicenter, U.S. watch centers said.

A wave measuring 3 feet reached the Solomon Islands after the quake, the Pacific Tsunami Warning Center said. A disaster management official said initial details of damage were sketchy, and there was no immediate word on fatalities.

Tsunami warnings were also initially issued for more distant coastlines across the South Pacific, but officials later canceled the warnings.

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The magnitude-8 quake occurred at 12:12 p.m. local time at a depth of about 3 miles (five kilometers) off the Santa Cruz Islands, which are part of the Solomon Islands nation, about 220 miles east of Kira Kira, Solomon Islands, according to a bulletin issued by the U.S. Geological Survey.

A magnitude-6.3 quake had struck minutes earlier in the same area. There were at least two aftershocks measuring above magnitude-6 following the larger quake.

—Arpan Mukherjee contributed to this article.