David Walsh, left, and Stuart Weinstein, center, look over a computer monitor which lets them know the height of a tsunami if it's generated by a earthquake at the Richard H. Hagemeyer Pacific Tsunami Warning Center located in Ewa Beach, Hawaii on the island of Oahu Wednesday, Oct. 7, 2009. Three powerful earthquakes struck the South Pacific near the Vanuatu archipelago Thursday, generating a small tsunami just over a week after another, massive wave killed 178 people in the Samoas and Tonga. There were no immediate reports of damage, and all tsunami warnings and watches for the Pacific were canceled two hours after they were first issued. (AP Photo/Eugene Tanner)
By RAY LILLEY, Associated Press Writer
(Post by CAAI News Media)
WELLINGTON, New Zealand – Thousands of panicked South Pacific islanders raced away from the coastline after three strong earthquakes rocked the region and generated a small tsunami Thursday, just over a week after a massive wave killed 178 people in the Samoas and Tonga.
There were no immediate reports of damage, and all tsunami warnings and watches were soon canceled. But people across the South Pacific took no chances, scrambling up hillsides and maneuvering through traffic-clogged streets to reach higher ground.
"There is panic here, too," Chris McKee, assistant director of the Geophysical Observatory in the Papua New Guinea capital, Port Moresby, told The Associated Press. "Offices have closed. People have rushed out onto the streets and are climbing hills. A lot of places have shut down. ... We tried to put the dampeners on it, but it was already out of hand."
The Hawaii-based Pacific Tsunami Warning Center issued a regional tsunami warning for 11 nations and territories after a quake with a magnitude of 7.8 struck 183 miles (294 kilometers) northwest of the Vanuatu island of Santo at a depth of 21 miles (35 kilometers). Two other quakes of magnitude 7.7 and 7.3 followed in the same area.
The center canceled the tsunami warnings after sea-level readings indicated that the wave generated by the quakes was too small to cause much damage.
There were no immediate reports of injury or damage from officials in Vanuatu, a chain of 83 islands. It lies about 1,400 miles (2,200 kilometers) northeast of Sydney, Australia.
"We felt the quake — it shook the ground, but not very strongly," said a police officer in the town of Luganville on the island of Santo, the Vanuatu island nearest to the quakes' epicenter. The officer declined to give his name as he was not authorized to speak to the media.
"We haven't received any reports of damage or injuries from the quakes or tsunami," he said, adding they were still waiting for reports from other small islands nearby.
In Tuvalu, a low-lying nation of eight coral atolls with about 10,000 people, thousands fled inland, some clustering around the government building in the capital, Funafuti — the only multistory building in the country.
"Even though nothing happened, it was a good exercise for us. We now can react and get to safety," weather office head Hilia Vavae told The AP.
In Samoa, where at least 137 were killed in the Sept. 29 tsunami, an AP reporter saw thousands of people run for the hills from the capital, Apia, after Thursday's alerts. Cars clogged the roads leading inland.
Thursday's warnings also created worry in American Samoa, where at least 32 people were killed in last week's tsunami. Residents of the coastal village of Utulei fled to the hills after hearing there was a tsunami watch for the U.S. territory.
Schools, government buildings and other residents were also evacuated to higher ground. Traffic was snarled in downtown villages of Pago Pago and Fagatogo.
Thursday's small tsunami came just over a week after a quake of magnitude 8.3 rocked the South Pacific near Samoa, sparking waves that killed at least 178 people and devastated coastal villages in Samoa, American Samoa and northern Tonga.
But seismologist Rafael Abreu with the U.S. Geological Survey in Golden, Colorado, said the timing of Thursday's quakes was coincidental and the Vanuatu event appeared to be unrelated to the Sept. 29 quake. The quakes occurred on different fault lines and the way the earth's plates moved in both events also differed, he said.
The second quake Thursday, just 15 minutes after the first, hit at the same depth but 21 miles (35 kilometers) farther north of Santo and Port Vila. The third was recorded nearly an hour later, 175 miles (280 kilometers) northwest of Santo at a depth of nine miles (15 kilometers).
Abreu said the second quake was originally measured at 7.3 but later upgraded to 7.7. The third was originally put at 7.1 but upgraded to 7.3.
Also Thursday morning, the U.S. Geological Survey reported a strong earthquake struck south of the Philippines.
The quake had a preliminary magnitude of 6.7 and was located in the Celebes Sea, 175 miles (282 kilometers) southeast of Jolo, Sulu Archipelago, and 730 miles (1,175 kilometers) south of Manila. The quake hit at 5:41 a.m. Thursday local time.
USGS did not report any damage or injuries.
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Associated Press writers Kristen Gelineau in Sydney, Keni Lesa in Apia, Samoa, and Jaymes Song in Honolulu, Hawaii, contributed to this report.
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