Australians Lucked Out

The tsunami generated by the earthquake in the Solomons didn't make it to the Australian coast:

"But if you want to have an earthquake that generated a tsunami that could impinge on Australia, this is one of the prime locations."

..."This is a one-in-100-year earthquake for this area," [tsunami expert Ted Bryant] said. "The motion of one plate pushing under the other is extremely conducive to changes on the sea floor that can cause a tsunami.

"The trench along where this rubbing of the plates occurs is very steep, creating the possibility of a huge undersea landslide. If that happens, that's when tsunamis can be huge."

Mr Gibson agreed a big tsunami could easily have headed Australia's way from that location. "We knew yesterday morning the earthquake was big enough, but we weren't sure for some hours if a tsunami heading toward Australia was going to result," he said.