8.3 Earthquake off the coast of American Somoa

[I AM NOT THAT GUY 5,715]

USGS reports 7.9 magnitude earthquake off Samoa

(AFP) – 42 minutes ago

APIA — A powerful earthquake of magnitude 7.9 struck off the South Pacific island nation of Samoa on Tuesday, triggering a tsunami warning and sending coastal residents fleeing to higher ground.

The quake was strong enough for the Pacific Tsunami Warning Centre to issue a tsunami warning for a large swathe of the South Pacific including Fiji, New Zealand and Tonga.

"I'm taking my family to a safe place. Everyone's getting out of coastal areas," Samoa resident Keni Lesa told AFP in the capital Apia.

But Lesa said there was no panic as "we have done a lot of training for this" living on a low lying island in an earthquake prone area.

There were no immediate reports of damage from the earthquake, apart from a few landslips.

In a preliminary earthquake report, the US Geological Survey put the epicentre 204 kilometres (130 miles) south-southwest of Apia and at a depth of 85 kilometres.

The tsunami warning was also in effect for American Samoa, Samoa, Niue Island, the Wallis and Futuna Islands, the Tokelau atolls, the Cook Islands, Tuvalu, Kiribati, the Kermadec Islands, the Baker and Howland Islands, Jarvis Island, French Polynesia and the Palmyra Islands.

A tsunami watch was issued for Vanuatu, Nauru, the Marshall Islands, the Solomon Islands, New Caledonia, Kosrae Island, Papua New Guinea, Hawaii, Pohnpei in Micronesia, the Wake Islands, Pitcairn and the Midway Islands.

"It is not known that a tsunami was generated," said a statement from the Pacific Tsunami Warning Center.

"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," the centre advised.

http://www.google.com/hostednews/afp/artic...duohyfkh7oc_VbA

[I AM NOT THAT GUY 5,715]

Sept. 29 (Bloomberg) -- A tsunami warning was posted for a swath of the South Pacific today after a magnitude-7.9 earthquake struck near Pago Pago, American Samoa, U.S. agencies reported.

The quake struck shortly before 7 a.m. local time about 122 miles (196 kilometers) from Pago Pago, said the U.S. Geological Survey. The Pacific Tsunami Warning Center said warnings for tsunami activity were posted for Fiji, New Zealand, Tonga, the Cook Islands, Samoa, American Samoa and a half-dozen other island nations.

Phone calls to the office of the governor of American Samoa weren’t immediately answered.

http://www.bloomberg.com/apps/news?pid=206...id=atZBTDjnYcUA

[Dakine 26]

No warning here in Hawaii yet!

[I AM NOT THAT GUY 5,715]

Hawaii County Civil Defense is advising all residents to avoid shoreline areas due to the Tsunami Watch in effect for the Hawaiian Islands.

BULLETIN

TSUNAMI MESSAGE NUMBER 2

NWS PACIFIC TSUNAMI WARNING CENTER EWA BEACH HI

857 AM HST TUE SEP 29 2009

TO – CIVIL DEFENSE IN THE STATE OF HAWAII

SUBJECT – TSUNAMI WATCH SUPPLEMENT

A TSUNAMI WATCH CONTINUES IN EFFECT FOR THE STATE OF HAWAII.

AN EARTHQUAKE HAS OCCURRED WITH THESE PRELIMINARY PARAMETERS

NOTE MOMENT MAGNITUDE INCREASE TO 8.3

ORIGIN TIME – 0748 AM HST 29 SEP 2009

COORDINATES – 15.3 SOUTH 171.0 WEST

LOCATION – SAMOA ISLANDS REGION

MAGNITUDE – 8.3 MOMENT

MAGNITUDE – 8.0 RICHTER (MS)

MEASUREMENTS OR REPORTS OF TSUNAMI WAVE ACTIVITY

GAUGE LOCATION LAT LON TIME AMPL PER

——————- —– —— —– ————— —–

APIA UPOLU WS 13.8S 171.8W 1832Z 0.70M / 2.3FT 08MIN

PAGO PAGO AS 14.3S 170.7W 1812Z 1.57M / 5.1FT 04MIN

LAT – LATITUDE (N-NORTH, S-SOUTH)

LON – LONGITUDE (E-EAST, W-WEST)

TIME – TIME OF THE MEASUREMENT (Z IS UTC IS GREENWICH TIME)

AMPL – TSUNAMI AMPLITUDE MEASURED RELATIVE TO NORMAL SEA LEVEL.

IT IS …NOT… CREST-TO-TROUGH WAVE HEIGHT.

VALUES ARE GIVEN IN BOTH METERS(M) AND FEET(FT).

PER – PERIOD OF TIME IN MINUTES(MIN) FROM ONE WAVE TO THE NEXT.

EVALUATION

BASED ON ALL AVAILABLE DATA A TSUNAMI MAY HAVE BEEN GENERATED BY

THIS EARTHQUAKE THAT COULD BE DESTRUCTIVE ON COASTAL AREAS EVEN

FAR FROM THE EPICENTER. AN INVESTIGATION IS UNDERWAY TO DETERMINE

IF THERE IS A TSUNAMI THREAT TO HAWAII.

IF TSUNAMI WAVES IMPACT HAWAII THE ESTIMATED EARLIEST ARRIVAL OF

THE FIRST TSUNAMI WAVE IS

0111 PM HST TUE 29 SEP 2009

MESSAGES WILL BE ISSUED HOURLY OR SOONER AS CONDITIONS WARRANT.

Pacific Area Bulletin

TSUNAMI BULLETIN NUMBER 002

PACIFIC TSUNAMI WARNING CENTER/NOAA/NWS

ISSUED AT 1856Z 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. / VANUATU / NAURU / MARSHALL IS. / SOLOMON IS.

A TSUNAMI WATCH IS IN EFFECT FOR

JOHNSTON IS. / NEW CALEDONIA / KOSRAE / PAPUA NEW GUINEA /

HAWAII / POHNPEI / WAKE IS. / PITCAIRN / MIDWAY IS. / CHUUK /

AUSTRALIA

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

NOTE THE MAGNITUDE UPGRADE TO 8.3

ORIGIN TIME – 1748Z 29 SEP 2009

COORDINATES – 15.3 SOUTH 171.0 WEST

DEPTH – 33 KM

LOCATION – SAMOA ISLANDS REGION

MAGNITUDE – 8.3

MEASUREMENTS OR REPORTS OF TSUNAMI WAVE ACTIVITY

GAUGE LOCATION LAT LON TIME AMPL PER

——————- —– —— —– ————— —–

APIA UPOLU WS 13.8S 171.8W 1832Z 0.70M / 2.3FT 08MIN

PAGO PAGO AS 14.3S 170.7W 1812Z 1.57M / 5.1FT 04MIN

LAT – LATITUDE (N-NORTH, S-SOUTH)

LON – LONGITUDE (E-EAST, W-WEST)

TIME – TIME OF THE MEASUREMENT (Z IS UTC IS GREENWICH TIME)

AMPL – TSUNAMI AMPLITUDE MEASURED RELATIVE TO NORMAL SEA LEVEL.

IT IS …NOT… CREST-TO-TROUGH WAVE HEIGHT.

VALUES ARE GIVEN IN BOTH METERS(M) AND FEET(FT).

PER – PERIOD OF TIME IN MINUTES(MIN) FROM ONE WAVE TO THE NEXT.

EVALUATION

SEA LEVEL READINGS INDICATE A TSUNAMI WAS GENERATED. IT MAY HAVE BEEN DESTRUCTIVE ALONG COASTS NEAR THE EARTHQUAKE EPICENTER AND COULD ALSO BE A THREAT TO MORE DISTANT COASTS. AUTHORITIES SHOULD TAKE APPROPRIATE ACTION IN RESPONSE TO THIS POSSIBILITY. THIS CENTER WILL CONTINUE TO MONITOR SEA LEVEL DATA TO DETERMINE THE EXTENT AND SEVERITY OF THE THREAT.

FOR ALL AREAS – WHEN NO MAJOR WAVES ARE OBSERVED FOR TWO HOURS AFTER THE ESTIMATED TIME OF ARRIVAL OR DAMAGING WAVES HAVE NOT OCCURRED FOR AT LEAST TWO HOURS THEN LOCAL AUTHORITIES CAN ASSUME THE THREAT IS PASSED. DANGER TO BOATS AND COASTAL STRUCTURES CAN CONTINUE FOR SEVERAL HOURS DUE TO RAPID CURRENTS. AS LOCAL CONDITIONS CAN CAUSE A WIDE VARIATION IN TSUNAMI WAVE ACTION THE ALL CLEAR DETERMINATION MUST BE MADE BY LOCAL AUTHORITIES.

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

BLUFF 46.6S 168.3E 0044Z 30 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

LAE 6.8S 147.0E 0015Z 30 SEP

KAVIENG 2.5S 150.7E 0016Z 30 SEP

PORT MORESBY 9.3S 146.9E 0039Z 30 SEP

MADANG 5.2S 145.8E 0041Z 30 SEP

MANUS IS. 2.0S 147.5E 0050Z 30 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

CHUUK CHUUK IS. 7.4N 151.8E 0020Z 30 SEP

AUSTRALIA BRISBANE 27.2S 153.3E 0036Z 30 SEP

SYDNEY 33.9S 151.4E 0038Z 30 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.

http://www.hawaii247.org/2009/09/29/tsunam...quake-in-samoa/

[I AM NOT THAT GUY 5,715]

Tsunami Warning - Threat To New Zealand

Wednesday, 30 September, 2009 - 07:15

There is a tsunami risk to New Zealand from the 8.3 magnitude earthquake that occurred of the coast of the Samoan Islands Region today at 0648 hours NZDT.

The Ministry of Civil Defence & Emergency Management has issued a tsunami warning for New Zealand coasts.

Information from the Pacific Tsunami Warning Centre and GNS Science is that the earthquake is likely to have generated a tsunami.

The warning is for all of New Zealand.

The Ministry's Director, John Hamilton, said that the Ministry has alerted the country's regional Civil Defence Emergency Management (CDEM) Groups, Police, Fire Service, Ministry of Health, Department of Prime Minister and Cabinet and other government agencies, and media. The Ministry has activated the National Crisis Management Centre and is co-ordinating central government response.

The Civil Defence Emergency Management sector is activating its emergency plans. Regional Civil Defence Emergency Management Groups are working urgently with local authorities, local emergency services and local media to warn and if necessary evacuate coastal areas at risk.

Detailed evacuation advice will come from local authorities and local emergency services. People should act on it promptly. If told to evacuate they should, where possible, take a radio and cellular phone with them, along with items that are essential for them such as glasses, hearing aid and medicines.

GNS Science is convening the tsunami expert panel and all available New Zealand and international data about the earthquake and sea levels are being monitored and analysed.

The warning follows an earthquake at: Location: Samoa Islands Region Time & Date: 1748 Zulu 29 SEPTEMBER 2009 NZ Time: 0648 NZDT 30 SEPTEMBER 2009 Co-ordinates: 15.3 South 171.0 West Depth: 33 km Magnitude: 8.3 (Is provisional and may be adjusted)

The Ministry will release further information as soon as it becomes available.

http://www.voxy.co.nz/national/tsunami-war...zealand/5/25607