7.9 magnitude quake sparks tsunami warning for New Zealand

7.9 magnitude quake sparks tsunami warning for New Zealand

www.reuters.com

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - A tsunami warning was issued for New Zealand and other small Pacific islands after a major 7.9 magnitude quake struck in the ocean off American Samoa, U.S. government agencies said on Tuesday.

The Pacific Tsunami Warning Center, a branch of the U.S. National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, issued the warning after the quake hit about 120 miles southwest of the remote Pacific island of American Samoa. It struck at a depth of 20.5 miles.

A tsunami watch was in effect for Hawaii, Papua New Guinea and other small Pacific islands.

The agency noted that its wa

(visit the link for the full news article)


Related News Links:
hisz.rsoe.hu
hisz.rsoe.hu

If anyone has relatives in the area this is a LARGE magnitude earthquake at shallow depth.

If a tsunami occurs it is expected to arrive in New Zealand around 2044 Zulu.

Please be careful if you are in the area and inform your family.

It is important to note that a tsunami has not been detected yet but conditions are favorable. Hawaii, Guam, Midway and the west coast of the USA are under Tsunami Watch as well.

www.reuters.com
(visit the link for the full news article)

Star & flag, thank you very much for the information.

I do not know anyone in the to-be-affected area- though I know many people here most likely will.

I also failed to notice the existing thread:

ATS Tsunami Thread

new zealand is getting rocked this year eh... poor kiwis.. that dust storm ever get there?

BULLETIN -- PACIFIC EARTHQUAKE MAGNITUDE UPGRADED TO MASSIVE 8.3 MAGNITUDE.

4 minutes ago from BNO Headquarters

Uh oh.. This isn't looking too good.

Originally posted by TheCoffinman
new zealand is getting rocked this year eh... poor kiwis.. that dust storm ever get there?

Auckland had a little red dust that was about it. Havent heard anything on teh news this morning about anything hitting our shores, although looks like a few small tsunami like waves have hit Samoa.

Thats about it. Havent a clue about what zulu time is even after reading up on it in wiki

Although it is currently 8:14 am here as i post... not sure how that would relate to 20:44 since i doubt a tsunami would take another 12 hours to reach us from Samoa

Edit:- Wow 8.4 mag now huh thats a biggie. Thank goodness it didnt hit anywhere directly on land, that would have obliterated any island it hit.

Edit2:- err i meant 8.3 .. dont think its gonna be in any way bad for us, then again i should rephrase that as shouldnt be bad for me, live way inland on a plateau. Although if i still lived in Auckland in the bays id be a little worried since we where only half a Km from the coast before

[edit on 29-9-2009 by BigfootNZ]

I have a cousin there
this is not good news

there was already a typhoon in the phillipines and now this

not good!

I wish the kiwi birds all the best as well
they are lovely birds

i'll have to contact my cousin

Tsunami already hit American Somoa and the quake has been upgraded to 8.1 according to twitter.com/breakingnews

My ant and cousin are in the area doing volunteer work. Hope they will be ok. They are on a small island with hardly any communication with the outside world already. So it will be hard to contact them.

Well I live on a coastline that faces directly at Samoa (the Bay of Plenty), so I'd be right in the firing line if we got one. Let's hope that we don't get anything too serious then

I had read this thread, then I went out to tell my colleague, who told me he just heard about it on the radio. Got to love ATS. I heard it here first.

If we get any waves I'll keep you posted.

I'd planned on going out for a surf this afternoon, but it looks like any potential tsunami will hit before then. Oh well, I'll have to leave my tsunami surfing aspirations for another day

reply to post by FreezeM


According to this article, there are no injuries and only two waves hit American Samoa. There are no reported injuries or damage either.

A 1.6-meter wave was observed in Pago Pago in American Samoa and a 0.7-meter wave in Apia, Samoa, the center said. There were no immediate reports of damage.

Hopefully that is all that happens. I can imagine that a tiny Pacific Island can't "get through" a tsunami as well as a mainland area.

This is a great link to see Earthquake information that is happening live. (all sorts of natural disaster info)

hisz.rsoe.hu...

Looks like there has been 6 quakes in that area.

[edit on 29/9/2009 by davidifty]

[edit on 29/9/2009 by davidifty]

reply to post by octotom


thanks, now does a tsunami wave get bigger or smaller further from the epic center? Doesn't it swell larger until hits land?

witness told Radio New Zealand that villages on the south-east coast of Samoa's Upolu had been flattened by the earthquake and that police were moving people to higher ground. It also said that a 10 foot (3 meter) tsunami struck its coast, a spokeswoman for the Pacific Tsunami Warning Center was not immediately able to confirm that.

news.bnonews.com...

Let's hope this information is false.

A powerful 8.0 magnitude earthquake in the Pacific off the Samoa islands region generated a tsunami, US government agencies said

www.reuters.com...

reply to post by FreezeM


As I remember, a tsunami wave gets larger as it approaches land. The reason being that the Continental Shelf pushes the "wave column" upwards. When the wave is still out at sea, one can't really see it. The same is true for all waves. What makes the tsunami deadly is that, if the earthquake really got things going, and the conditions were perfect, it sends many waves at once.

I have a friend there, I just warned her.

I hope it isn't too bad.

It looks like the wave might be getting larger.

noaa

reporting 2.3 ft samoa and 5.1ft for Pago Pago

Says they will be issuing a warning for Hawaii and other areas of Pacific.

Unfortunatly I can not link to that warning apparently a lot of people are trying to do that at the same time.


crosses fingers

im watching CNN right now and it says the quake was between an 8.0 and 8.3 magnitude... they say a 5 foot wave was generated in american samoa... wave heading towards the south pacific.. no advisaries for west coast of US, tsunami watch until 7:30 EST pm in Hawaii...

CNN: Tsunami in Samoa had a height of 23 foot; Reuters reports unknown number of fatalities in American Samoa.