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Tsunami watch cancelled for Hawaii after Pacific quakes

 
UPDATE, 5:30 p.m., Wednesday, Oct. 7 

A swarm of strong temblors is rattling the seabed around Santa Cruz Islands and Vanuatu in the South Pacific.

According to U.S Geological Survey, at least four earthquakes that measured greater than 5.0 magnitude were recorded by 5 p.m. Hawaii time.

Following a 6.7 magnitude quake earlier in the day off the Philippines, four separate episodes were recorded – 7.8, 7.7, 7.3 and 6.9.

The latest was the 6.9 off Santa Cruz Islands about four hours after the initial temblor that occurred shortly after noon Hawaii time.

Although officials had warned of a possible tsunami threat to Hawaii, all advisories and alerts were cancelled by 2:30 p.m.

UPDATE, 3 p.m. Wednesday, Oct. 7

The Pacific Tsunami Warning Center has canceled the tsunami watch that was issued for Hawaii after the earthquake off the South Pacific island nation of Vanuatu.

The watch, issued at 1:36 p.m., was canceled after 2 p.m. Had tsunami waves been generated, the estimated earliest arrival on Hawaii shores would have been 6:50 p.m.

The Pacific Tsunami Warning Centre has issued a tsunami warning for Papua New Guinea and island nations in the south-west Pacific, including Fiji, after a 8.1-magnitude earthquake struck off Vanuatu this morning.

The epicentre of the quake was located 373 kilometres from Vanuatu at a depth of 33 kilometres, the US Geological Survey says. Vanuatu is 2,995 miles southwest of Hawaii.

There were no immediate reports of injuries or damage.

Earlier this morning a magnitude-6.7 quake struck south-east of the Sulu archipelago of the Philippines.

The quake was in the Celebes Sea, 320 kilometres south of Zamboanga in Mindanao, and occurred at 5:41am (local time). The depth was 582.8 kilometres, the USGS said.

MEDIA RELEASE

Tsunami travel times from Vanuatu

Tsunami travel times from Vanuatu

TSUNAMI BULLETIN NUMBER 003
PACIFIC TSUNAMI WARNING CENTER/NOAA/NWS
ISSUED AT 0018Z 08 OCT 2009

THIS BULLETIN APPLIES TO AREAS WITHIN AND BORDERING THE PACIFIC OCEAN AND ADJACENT SEAS…EXCEPT ALASKA…BRITISH COLUMBIA… WASHINGTON…OREGON AND CALIFORNIA.

… TSUNAMI WARNING AND WATCH CANCELLATION …

THE TSUNAMI WARNING AND/OR WATCH ISSUED BY THE PACIFIC TSUNAMI WARNING CENTER IS NOW CANCELLED FOR

VANUATU / SOLOMON IS. / NAURU / PAPUA NEW GUINEA / TUVALU / NEW CALEDONIA / FIJI / KIRIBATI / KOSRAE / WALLIS-FUTUNA / HOWLAND-BAKER / MARSHALL IS. / TOKELAU / KERMADEC IS / POHNPEI / NEW ZEALAND / SAMOA / AMERICAN SAMOA / TONGA / AUSTRALIA / NIUE / COOK ISLANDS / CHUUK / INDONESIA / WAKE IS. / JARVIS IS. / PALMYRA IS. / GUAM / N. MARIANAS / JOHNSTON IS. / YAP / MARCUS IS. / BELAU / MIDWAY IS. / FR. POLYNESIA / HAWAII / PHILIPPINES

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 -  2203Z 07 OCT 2009
COORDINATES -  13.0 SOUTH  166.3 EAST
DEPTH       -   33 KM
LOCATION    -  VANUATU ISLANDS
MAGNITUDE   -  7.8

MEASUREMENTS OR REPORTS OF TSUNAMI WAVE ACTIVITY

GAUGE LOCATION        LAT   LON    TIME        AMPL         PER
-------------------  ----- ------  -----  ---------------  -----
VANUATU VU           17.8S 168.3E  2320Z   0.05M /  0.2FT  24MIN
DART CORAL 55012     15.8S 158.5E  2326Z   0.03M /  0.1FT  10MIN
LUGANVILLE VU        15.5S 167.2E  2327Z   0.10M /  0.3FT  20MIN

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. FOR THOSE 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.

NO TSUNAMI THREAT EXISTS FOR OTHER COASTAL AREAS ALTHOUGH SOME MAY EXPERIENCE SMALL SEA LEVEL CHANGES. FOR ALL AREAS COVERED BY THIS CENTER…THE TSUNAMI WARNING AND WATCH ARE CANCELLED.

THIS WILL BE THE FINAL BULLETIN ISSUED FOR THIS EVENT UNLESS ADDITIONAL INFORMATION BECOMES AVAILABLE.

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

For reference current Coordinated Universal Time (ZULU Time) is:

2 Responses to “Tsunami watch cancelled for Hawaii after Pacific quakes”

  1. sOINA says:

    IS THIS A THREAT TO SAMOA PLEASE?

  2. Hawaii247 says:

    A tsunami WATCH has been issued for Samoa. Updated info above. A tsunami WARNING for areas closer to the quakes.

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