Quake triggers brief tsunami warning
New Zealand, Fiji, Tonga, Samoas told to be on alert
NASA World Wind/MSNBC
Updated: 2:04 p.m. ET May 3, 2006
WELLINGTON, New Zealand - Concerns about a tsunami in the aftermath of a powerful South Pacific quake eased after the U.S. Pacific Tsunami Warning center canceled its warning and an official in New Zealand said ocean-monitoring devices had not detected any signs of a tsunami.
The magnitude 8.0 earthquake struck near the nation of Tonga, and a tsunami warning was briefly issued for Tonga, Fiji, New Zealand and the Samoa islands.
Police in Fiji and Tonga said there were no signs of impact from a tsunami.
Speaking about the time a wave was forecast to reach the islands, police spokesman Mesake Koroi in Fiji’s capital, Suva, said there had been no immediate reports of a tsunami.
A police officer in Tonga’s capital, Nuku’alofa, said there were no immediate reports of damage or a tsunami.
Another officer in Neiafu, 180 miles to the north, said the quake was felt for about 90 seconds.
“It was strong but not long,” duty constable Salesi Baongo said.
Asked whether the tsunami warning had been received, Baongo said, “No, we haven’t heard about it.”
‘Rocking and rolling’
Mary Fonua, a publisher in Nuku’alofa, said it was the most powerful quake she had felt in 27 years in Tonga.
“It was rocking and rolling the floor was shaking, the whole family stood in the doorway and we heard crockery breaking in the kitchen and books fell from the shelves,” she said.
“It’s very dark and the power went off during the quake ... staff are reporting big flashes as the electricity grid went down during the shake and lines were broken,” she added.
“It felt very close but we haven’t heard a tsunami warning” in the capital, she said.
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The science of tsunamis
The temblor, classified by the U.S. Geological Survey as a “great” quake, struck 95 miles south of Neiafu, Tonga, and 1,340 miles north-northeast of Auckland, New Zealand. It occurred 20 miles beneath the sea floor.
The U.S. National Weather Service initially warned that a tsunami could strike Fiji as soon as 1:13 p.m. ET Wednesday and New Zealand by 2:21 p.m. ET Wednesday. NBC VIDEO
• Tsunami warning canceled
May 3: A tsunami warning issued for Fiji and New Zealand, after magnitude 8.0 earthquake struck near the South Pacific nation of Tonga, has been canceled. MSNBC-TV’s Sean McLaughlin has the details.
MSNBC
“There’s a chance that there could be a tsunami,” said Barry Hirshorn, a geophysicist at the Tsunami Warning Center. “But in reality, there’s not much danger except for areas close to the earthquake.”
The Tsunami Warning Center’s instruments detected that there could be small tsunamis with half-meter waves in the areas close to the earthquake, Hirshorn said.
“We’re not observing much of a tsunami,” he said. “Strictly speaking, it’s not very devastating.”
Hawaii advisory
A tsunami advisory was also briefly issued for Hawaii, but the warning center said the earthquake, based on historical records, was not sufficient to generate a tsunami damaging to the Pacific coasts of the United States and Canada, and Alaska. Some areas may experience small sea-level changes.
Tonga — a 170-island archipelago about halfway between Australia and Tahiti — has a population of about 108,000 and an economy dependent on pumpkin and vanilla exports, fishing, foreign aid and remittances from Tongans abroad.
On Dec. 26, 2004, the most powerful earthquake in four decades — magnitude 9.0 — ripped apart the Indian Ocean floor off Indonesia’s Sumatra island, displacing millions of tons of water and spawning giant waves that sped off in all directions.
The tsunami left at least 216,000 people dead or missing in a dozen nations.
Fiji, a South Pacific country made up of more than 300 islands, a third of which are inhabited, is regularly rattled by earthquakes, but few cause any damage or casualties.
( OPMERKING; IT WIL COME IN THE NIGHT..............)
