Tsunami Warning! - Mag 8.0 Quake 2,700km NNE of NZ

[Michael]

A Sunami (sp) has been issued off America Samoa for N.Z heard it on 1ZB just now.

[tgsnoopy]

[quote="NOAA Pacific Tsunami Warning Center"]TSUNAMI BULLETIN NUMBER 001
PACIFIC TSUNAMI WARNING CENTER/NOAA/NWS
ISSUED AT 1804Z 29 SEP 2009

THIS BULLETIN APPLIES TO AREAS WITHIN AND BORDERING THE PACIFIC
OCEAN AND ADJACENT SEAS...EXCEPT ALASKA...BRITISH COLUMBIA...
WASHINGTON...OREGON AND CALIFORNIA.

... A TSUNAMI WARNING AND WATCH ARE IN EFFECT ...

A TSUNAMI WARNING IS IN EFFECT FOR

AMERICAN SAMOA / SAMOA / NIUE / WALLIS-FUTUNA / TOKELAU /
COOK ISLANDS / TONGA / TUVALU / KIRIBATI / KERMADEC IS / FIJI /
HOWLAND-BAKER / JARVIS IS. / NEW ZEALAND / FR. POLYNESIA /
PALMYRA IS.

A TSUNAMI WATCH IS IN EFFECT FOR

VANUATU / NAURU / MARSHALL IS. / SOLOMON IS. / JOHNSTON IS. /
NEW CALEDONIA / KOSRAE / PAPUA NEW GUINEA / HAWAII / POHNPEI /
WAKE IS. / PITCAIRN / MIDWAY IS.

FOR ALL OTHER AREAS COVERED BY THIS BULLETIN... IT IS FOR
INFORMATION ONLY AT THIS TIME.

THIS BULLETIN IS ISSUED AS ADVICE TO GOVERNMENT AGENCIES. ONLY
NATIONAL AND LOCAL GOVERNMENT AGENCIES HAVE THE AUTHORITY TO MAKE
DECISIONS REGARDING THE OFFICIAL STATE OF ALERT IN THEIR AREA AND
ANY ACTIONS TO BE TAKEN IN RESPONSE.

AN EARTHQUAKE HAS OCCURRED WITH THESE PRELIMINARY PARAMETERS

ORIGIN TIME - 1748Z 29 SEP 2009
COORDINATES - 15.3 SOUTH 171.0 WEST
DEPTH - SHALLOWER THAN 100 KM
LOCATION - SAMOA ISLANDS REGION
MAGNITUDE - 7.9

EVALUATION

IT IS NOT KNOWN THAT A TSUNAMI WAS GENERATED. THIS WARNING IS
BASED ONLY ON THE EARTHQUAKE EVALUATION. AN EARTHQUAKE OF THIS
SIZE HAS THE POTENTIAL TO GENERATE A DESTRUCTIVE TSUNAMI THAT CAN
STRIKE COASTLINES NEAR THE EPICENTER WITHIN MINUTES AND MORE
DISTANT COASTLINES WITHIN HOURS. AUTHORITIES SHOULD TAKE
APPROPRIATE ACTION IN RESPONSE TO THIS POSSIBILITY. THIS CENTER
WILL MONITOR SEA LEVEL DATA FROM GAUGES NEAR THE EARTHQUAKE TO
DETERMINE IF A TSUNAMI WAS GENERATED AND ESTIMATE THE SEVERITY OF
THE THREAT.

ESTIMATED INITIAL TSUNAMI WAVE ARRIVAL TIMES AT FORECAST POINTS
WITHIN THE WARNING AND WATCH AREAS ARE GIVEN BELOW. ACTUAL
ARRIVAL TIMES MAY DIFFER AND THE INITIAL WAVE MAY NOT BE THE
LARGEST. A TSUNAMI IS A SERIES OF WAVES AND THE TIME BETWEEN
SUCCESSIVE WAVES CAN BE FIVE MINUTES TO ONE HOUR.

LOCATION FORECAST POINT COORDINATES ARRIVAL TIME
-------------------------------- ------------ ------------
AMERICAN SAMOA PAGO PAGO 14.3S 170.7W 1759Z 29 SEP
SAMOA APIA 13.8S 171.8W 1810Z 29 SEP
NIUE NIUE IS. 19.0S 170.0W 1822Z 29 SEP
WALLIS-FUTUNA WALLIS IS. 13.2S 176.2W 1835Z 29 SEP
TOKELAU NUKUNONU IS. 9.2S 171.8W 1844Z 29 SEP
COOK ISLANDS PUKAPUKA IS. 10.8S 165.9W 1846Z 29 SEP
RAROTONGA 21.2S 159.8W 1929Z 29 SEP
PENRYN IS. 8.9S 157.8W 1954Z 29 SEP
TONGA NUKUALOFA 21.0S 175.2W 1851Z 29 SEP
TUVALU FUNAFUTI IS. 7.9S 178.5E 1932Z 29 SEP
KIRIBATI KANTON IS. 2.8S 171.7W 1935Z 29 SEP
FLINT IS. 11.4S 151.8W 2025Z 29 SEP
MALDEN IS. 3.9S 154.9W 2037Z 29 SEP
CHRISTMAS IS. 2.0N 157.5W 2100Z 29 SEP
TARAWA IS. 1.5N 173.0E 2104Z 29 SEP
KERMADEC IS RAOUL IS. 29.2S 177.9W 1938Z 29 SEP
FIJI SUVA 18.1S 178.4E 2003Z 29 SEP
HOWLAND-BAKER HOWLAND IS. 0.6N 176.6W 2008Z 29 SEP
JARVIS IS. JARVIS IS. 0.4S 160.1W 2028Z 29 SEP
NEW ZEALAND EAST CAPE 37.7S 178.5E 2044Z 29 SEP
GISBORNE 38.7S 178.0E 2100Z 29 SEP
NORTH CAPE 34.4S 173.3E 2112Z 29 SEP
NAPIER 39.5S 176.9E 2140Z 29 SEP
WELLINGTON 41.3S 174.8E 2150Z 29 SEP
AUCKLAND(E) 36.7S 175.0E 2212Z 29 SEP
AUCKLAND(W) 37.1S 174.2E 2239Z 29 SEP
LYTTELTON 43.6S 172.7E 2255Z 29 SEP
NEW PLYMOUTH 39.1S 174.1E 2317Z 29 SEP
NELSON 41.3S 173.3E 2323Z 29 SEP
DUNEDIN 45.9S 170.5E 2331Z 29 SEP
MILFORD SOUND 44.6S 167.9E 2358Z 29 SEP
WESTPORT 41.8S 171.6E 2359Z 29 SEP
FR. POLYNESIA PAPEETE 17.5S 149.6W 2045Z 29 SEP
HIVA OA 10.0S 139.0W 2214Z 29 SEP
RIKITEA 23.1S 135.0W 2247Z 29 SEP
PALMYRA IS. PALMYRA IS. 6.3N 162.4W 2102Z 29 SEP
VANUATU ANATOM IS. 20.2S 169.9E 2117Z 29 SEP
ESPERITU SANTO 15.1S 167.3E 2123Z 29 SEP
NAURU NAURU 0.5S 166.9E 2138Z 29 SEP
MARSHALL IS. MAJURO 7.1N 171.4E 2147Z 29 SEP
KWAJALEIN 8.7N 167.7E 2220Z 29 SEP
ENIWETOK 11.4N 162.3E 2309Z 29 SEP
SOLOMON IS. KIRAKIRA 10.4S 161.9E 2155Z 29 SEP
GHATERE 7.8S 159.2E 2227Z 29 SEP
AUKI 8.8S 160.6E 2244Z 29 SEP
HONIARA 9.3S 160.0E 2244Z 29 SEP
PANGGOE 6.9S 157.2E 2245Z 29 SEP
MUNDA 8.4S 157.2E 2248Z 29 SEP
FALAMAE 7.4S 155.6E 2304Z 29 SEP
JOHNSTON IS. JOHNSTON IS. 16.7N 169.5W 2212Z 29 SEP
NEW CALEDONIA NOUMEA 22.3S 166.5E 2216Z 29 SEP
KOSRAE KOSRAE IS. 5.5N 163.0E 2233Z 29 SEP
PAPUA NEW GUINE KIETA 6.1S 155.6E 2303Z 29 SEP
AMUN 6.0S 154.7E 2323Z 29 SEP
RABAUL 4.2S 152.3E 2349Z 29 SEP
HAWAII NAWILIWILI 22.0N 159.4W 2311Z 29 SEP
HILO 19.7N 155.1W 2314Z 29 SEP
HONOLULU 21.3N 157.9W 2315Z 29 SEP
POHNPEI POHNPEI IS. 7.0N 158.2E 2318Z 29 SEP
WAKE IS. WAKE IS. 19.3N 166.6E 2322Z 29 SEP
PITCAIRN PITCAIRN IS. 25.1S 130.1W 2329Z 29 SEP
MIDWAY IS. MIDWAY IS. 28.2N 177.4W 2349Z 29 SEP

BULLETINS WILL BE ISSUED HOURLY OR SOONER IF CONDITIONS WARRANT.
THE TSUNAMI WARNING AND WATCH WILL REMAIN IN EFFECT UNTIL
FURTHER NOTICE.

THE WEST COAST/ALASKA TSUNAMI WARNING CENTER WILL ISSUE PRODUCTS
FOR ALASKA...BRITISH COLUMBIA...WASHINGTON...OREGON...CALIFORNIA.[/quote]

[Nev]

An earthquake with a preliminary magnitude of 7.9 and default depth of 35km struck 205 km SSW of APIA, Samoa or about 2,700 km NNE of NZ at 6:48am this morn NZDT.

It's not known yet if a Tsunami has been generated but a warning is in effect...

[Michael]

They say none is reported yet but the quake is capable of producing one.

[tgsnoopy]

Correct, a warning is standard practice. Better to have false alarms and no tsunami than no warning and a significant event.

[Nev]

The warning is still in effect.

[Razor]

3 metre wave in Samoa. Not sure what that means for size / risk here but it sounds like Civil Defence are about to say the threat is real for us

[Razor]

revised to 8.3 uh oh....

[gllitz]

Was listening to eye witness on TV3 breaky show say how he and whomever else he was with were about to have breakfast when they felt the quake and within a minute the lagoon near where they were staying emptied out...he said they ran for the hills along with most of the other people in the village they were staying...he even said some people did NOT make it...good thing, though, was that the kids from the village were in school up on the hill at the time...he estimated the wave to be about 2m in height and basically destroyed the place he was just in as he watched from the hillside they made it to...scary stuff....but I suppose after the 2004 one, people are a lot more aware of warning signs....

EDIT (changed the year of the Boxing Day event to correct year...)

[Nev]

Civil Defence has issued a warning for all of NZ and advises people to listen broadcasts on radio from local civil defence authorities and local emergency services. If a tsunami hits here, it'll arrive about 10am, although probably not with the same impact as Samoa.

[Razor]

Deaths reported in Samoa., Grim news

[Vertigo]

paul henry on tv1 breakfast is an arrogant jackass - has a grudge against civil defense, and when they get a civil defence spokesman on the show, just talks over him and tells him hes useless - when the guy is trying to tell people not to listen to him, but to local authorities via radio, which is standard civil defence proceedure.

god i hate that arsehole.

[Manukau heads obs]

from stuff

John Davies, Gisborne District Council group controller of civil defence, said he had been told by the Civil Defence Ministry that if there was any wave it was only likely to be a metre high, "which is about half what we get off a good southerly storm."

It is low tide in Gisborne at the moment, and Mr Davies said he was not expecting any damage from the tsunami

this is bad info
you cant compare to a wind generated wave!!!!

[jamie]

OMG!!! the dynamics of a wind generated wave are far far different to that of a tsunami. shocking info to be giving.

[Nev]

People in eastern coastal Coromandel are being evacuated to move to higher ground NOW!
Tsunami ETA 9:45am.

[Michael]

Will it effect the west coast?

[gllitz]

Nev...are you anywhere near the coast on Waiheke Island?

[Razor]

Waikehe and Gt Barrier residents being told to go to higher ground...

[Razor]

'EVERYTHING IS GONE'

The owner of Iliili Beach resort in Upolu, Daniela Brussani, said her resort had been wiped out, with only the floor remaining in places. Some bungalows were totally gone.

Brussani, originally from Italy, said the earthquake was "very long and very strong."

She said she understood that three people were missing from Saleilua, the village where the resort is situated.

As she was speaking to Stuff.co.nz she saw a policeman running carrying a baby, which she feared was dead.

She saw boats and very big fish on the road.

"We're very lucky we're alive."

She said after the earthquake hit she went to the verandah at the resort and the sea had disappeared. "No water, just coral. The water go back. Very fast we understand it is a tsunami. It's not low tide - there is a difference"

She said she jumped in the car and drove away from the coast and waited. She said two very big waves were seen, about six or seven metres high.

"When we go back we see all my resort is gone."

She said the resort was covered with two metres of water.

[Nev]

Will it effect the west coast?

No.

Nev...are you anywhere near the coast on Waiheke Island?

No, 21m asl and 1.5km from either the N or S coast.

[David]

Hardly anyone to be seen at Eastern Beach this morning! Although it is sheltered by the islands in the Hauraki Gulf and the expected arrival time is around 11.12am apparently, which is near low tide.

[Michael]

The tide is almost full on the Manakau harbour as I write this.People will need their radios on a proper station with news coverage.

[Manukau heads obs]

note that its only small tides at the moment
the west coast will get some changes in tide height I would expect

[jamie]

The fact that i cant find anything about this on any tv channel (have sky) as it is hitting the coast is in a way shocking! I would have thought they would have had new crews on high ground or people on the phone. But instead there is absolutely nothing.

[Michael]

Jamie 1296kHz or 100FM probably be best for info.