WELLINGTON, New Zealand (AFP) ? A tsunami alert for New Zealand and Tonga was cancelled Thursday but a risk of dangerous seas remained after a strong 7.6-magnitude undersea earthquake, officials said.
The Pacific Tsunami Warning Center (PTWS) issued the tsunami warning after the quake struck off New Zealand's Kermadec Islands at 07.03am Thursday (1903 GMT Wednesday) at a depth of just one kilometre (0.6 miles).
Initially measured at magnitude 7.8, the US Geological Survey later doengraded the tremor to 7.6 and the PTWS said it might have caused destructive waves near the epicentre at the Kermadecs, northeast of New Zealand.
It added: "No tsunami threat exists for other coastal areas in the Pacific, although some other areas may experience small sea level changes. The tsunami warning is now cancelled for all areas covered by this centre."
New Zealand Civil Defence said a marine threat was in place for areas of the North Island but no land damage was expected from waves of up to one metre (40 inches) generated by the quake.
"At this stage, it is not expected that there is a land-based tsunami threat," Auckland Civil Defence coordinator Clive Manley told national radio.
"What we mean by a marine threat is that you can get extreme currents, so it is a threat to boats, but we're not anticipating damage to land."
He warned people to stay away from beaches and not go out on boats.
The PTWC's initial alert said a tsunami could reach Tonga by 2017 GMT and the eastern cape of New Zealand by 2052 GMT.
In Tonga, the publisher of the Matangi Tonga website said there appeared to be no damage in the capital Nuku'alofa some 20 minutes after the estimated arrival time.
"There's been quite a bit of movement on the roads and some schools have closed but there's no indication of any damage at this stage," she told AFP.
"We'll have to keep monitoring because there's the chance of damage for some hours after the initial arrival time."
vera bradley yellowstone national park giants honey badger gina carano bill o reilly kid rock
No comments:
Post a Comment
Note: Only a member of this blog may post a comment.