7.8 Earthquake, Kermadec Islands July 06 2011 19:03 UTC, Tsunami Warning

Live Earthquake Map
This link shows 2 quakes at 7.8. It's likely that it's just a duplicate bug, which usually happens (except the depth is different), in which case the map will be updated in a short time to give an accurate display.

Mag 7.8, USGS

TSUNAMI BULLETIN NUMBER 001
PACIFIC TSUNAMI WARNING CENTER/NOAA/NWS
ISSUED AT 1912Z 06 JUL 2011

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 IS IN EFFECT ...

A TSUNAMI WARNING IS IN EFFECT FOR

KERMADEC IS / TONGA / NEW ZEALAND

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 - 1903Z 06 JUL 2011
COORDINATES - 29.4 SOUTH 175.7 WEST
DEPTH - 48 KM
LOCATION - KERMADEC ISLANDS REGION
MAGNITUDE - 7.8

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 IN THE REGION NEAR THE EPICENTER WITHIN MINUTES TO HOURS. AUTHORITIES IN THE REGION SHOULD TAKE APPROPRIATE ACTION IN RESPONSE TO THIS POSSIBILITY. THIS CENTER WILL MONITOR SEA LEVEL GAUGES NEAREST THE REGION AND REPORT IF ANY TSUNAMI WAVE ACTIVITY IS OBSERVED. THE WARNING WILL NOT EXPAND TO OTHER AREAS OF THE PACIFIC UNLESS ADDITIONAL DATA ARE RECEIVED TO WARRANT SUCH AN EXPANSION.

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
-------------------------------- ------------ ------------
KERMADEC IS RAOUL_IS. 29.2S 182.1E 1929Z 06 JUL
TONGA NUKUALOFA 21.0S 184.8E 2017Z 06 JUL
NEW ZEALAND EAST_CAPE 37.7S 178.5E 2052Z 06 JUL
NORTH_CAPE 34.4S 173.3E 2054Z 06 JUL
GISBORNE 38.7S 178.0E 2059Z 06 JUL
AUCKLAND(E) 36.7S 175.0E 2200Z 06 JUL

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

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

Seems this just happened. As the report says, it's not been confirmed yet if an actual Tsunami has been formed, but because of the size and epicenter of the quake, it's very likely a destructive one will hit New Zealand and some of the neighboring islands within a short time.

This event has been reviewed by a seismologist.

Magnitude 7.8 (Preliminary magnitude — update expected within 15 minutes)
Date-Time

Wednesday, July 06, 2011 at 19:03:16 UTC
Thursday, July 07, 2011 at 07:03:16 AM at epicenter

Location 29.400°S, 175.700°W
Depth 48 km (29.8 miles) set by location program
Region KERMADEC ISLANDS REGION
Distances

211 km (131 miles) E (95°) from Raoul Island, Kermadec Islands
919 km (571 miles) S (183°) from NUKU'ALOFA, Tonga
2964 km (1842 miles) WSW (239°) from PAPEETE, Tahiti, French Polynesia

Location Uncertainty Error estimate not available
Parameters NST= 22, Nph= 22, Dmin=245 km, Rmss=1.41 sec, Gp=184°,
M-type="moment" magnitude from initial P wave (tsuboi method) (Mi/Mwp), Version=1
Source

West Coast and Alaska Tsunami Warning Center/NOAA/NWS

Event ID at00lnxe9i

earthquake.usgs.gov...

I had just posted this in the earthquake thread! That's a big one!

Heard it on GLP, damn that really came out of nowhere. It's in the Pacific rim though, but that even took me by surprise for once

here we go again folks...

let us all hope this has a good outcome. The ring of fire is active now, its just a matter of time when it all comes down to volcano eruptions etc..

How many potentially catastrophic natural disasters are we going to have this year? Honestly..
Its like we are on a disaster movie set..

My thoughts and feelings are with anyone who may be effected by this.
Lets hope to god another Nuclear Power plant doesn't get caught in the potential chaos.

I doubt anyone actually felt the quake, as it is fairly remote in the middle of the ocean, but we'll just have to wait and see if a Tsunami was generated (which would seem likely), the only question is, how powerful would it be?

EDIT:

A 7.7 was just registered on the Live Earthquake Map, but it may be an error (which is typical) and just reporting the same quake twice (or downgrading it), it usually happens with quakes this size, and the map will be updated to be more accurate in roughly half an hour.

Looking at the coordinates on Google maps, it seems Hawaii would be the most threatened. Just downgraded to 7.7, let's hope this doesn't have enough energy to generate a really large one.

Edit: nvm, looks like it's back up to 7.8

EVALUATION

THE PACIFIC TSUNAMI WARNING CENTER HAS ISSUED A NON-EXPANDING
REGIONAL TSUNAMI WARNING FOR A PART OF THE PACIFIC NEAR THE
EARTHQUAKE. BASED ON ALL AVAILABLE DATA THERE IS NO DESTRUCTIVE
TSUNAMI THREAT TO HAWAII.

ptwc.weather.gov...

The USGS briefly downgraded this to a 7.7; however, it is now back at 7.8. Also of note is that the original depth was listed at 48km, now it is listed at 1km.

Originally posted by Lionhearte
I doubt anyone actually felt the quake, as it is fairly remote in the middle of the ocean, but we'll just have to wait and see if a Tsunami was generated (which would seem likely), the only question is, how powerful would it be?

Well the earthquake that caused the Japanese tsunami was 9.0 and that tsunami was devastating!
So I'm assuming this has the potential to be pretty bad. I'm no expert though and I'm sure it all depends on depth and various other variables.

Edit to add: The Indonesian tsunami in 2004 was caused by an earthquake with the magnitude of between 9.1 and 9.3. The Japanese tsunami was more destructive I believe so only time will tell whether or not this EQ will actually cause a tsunami and how devastating it would be.

They've changed the depth of the quake from 48 km to only 1 km.

reply to post by TechUnique


The Japan quake would be approximately 63 times more powerful than this one, but because of the new change in depth (if it's accurate) it may be possible some people felt it. A surface quake is much more devastating than one that is deep underground, but again, considering the location of this one, it probably wasn't too big of a shake to anyone who felt it. The generated Tsunami would be much more of a worry.

reply to post by Phage


Looks like they have retracted their statement, or my computer is screwed up...

Product not available.

Link

Don't we have a CME hitting today?

Warning centre says his tsunami may have been destructive along coastlines of the region near the earthquake epicenter

Whoosh! thats a big one!

The warning will not expand to other areas of the pacific unless additional data are received to warrant such an expansion

Will update if i get any Wire news on this,

CBCNews: Residents are urged to stay away from the New Zealand coast line. Civil defence is still assessing tsunami risk

Lets hope everyone is ok,

It was only 0.6 a a mile deep! I wonder if something else happened like a bomb or volcano.

Downgraded to 7.6 at a depth of 20km/12.4mi on the USGS page.