The Pacific Tsunami Warning Center NOAA, issued the following warning (at 2022Z 29 SEP 2009):
A TSUNAMI WARNING IS IN EFFECT FOR
AMERICAN SAMOA / SAMOA / NIUE / WALLIS-FUTUNA / TOKELAU / COOK ISLANDS / TONGA / TUVALU / KIRIBATI / KERMADEC IS / FIJI /HOWLAND-BAKER / JARVIS IS. / NEW ZEALAND / FR. POLYNESIA / PALMYRA IS. / VANUATU / NAURU / MARSHALL IS. / SOLOMON IS. / JOHNSTON IS. / NEW CALEDONIA / KOSRAE / PAPUA NEW GUINEA / POHNPEI / WAKE IS.
An earthquake of 7.9 struck Samoa. According to Radio New Zealand (live stream), at least 6 people have died in Samoa, and now New Zealand is clearing its beaches.
The NOAA website has posted the times when the tsunami is expected to arrive at various locations. Times posted there are in GMT (about 12 hours behind local time in those locations where the tsunami first struck)
The tsunami has already struck American Samoa, Samoa, the Cook Island, Tonga, Tuvalu, and Kiribati, and parts of New Zealand (though apparently the wave was small when it arrived on the North Island and the warning may have since been downgraded for New Zealand).
This map came from the NOAA website (legend at top right):
According to USGS the original earthquake in Samoa has apparently been upgraded to 8.0 at a depth of 18 km. USGS has a great earthquake map here that is constantly updated.
I pray that there are no more deaths. I thought the contestants of the show Survivor were in Samoa, I hope they are all safe.
ReplyDeleteThat is terrible news, I hope they can get rescue to them quickly.
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