Tsunami warning issued for South Pacific
source: http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/asia-pacific/8281616.stm
-
-
- graemesmith
- added this
A Tsunami warning has been issued for many South Pacific nations following a magnitude 8.3 earthquake at 17.48 GMT at a depth of 33km (20 miles) some 190km from Samoa's capital Apia.
A Tsunami has already struck American Samoa in the last few hours and several are already reported dead. A senior hospital employee in the main hospital for American Samoa has spoken to the BBC in a live phone call and explained the seriousness of the situation. Homes have already been swept away and many are reported dead.
A Tsunami warning is in place for the Samoa islands, New Zealand, Tonga and Fiji, the Pacific Tsunami Warning Centre said.
"Based on all available data, a tsunami may have been generated by this earthquake that could be destructive on coastal areas even far from the epicentre," the PTWC - a branch of the US National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration
Mr Weinstein said Tuesday's quake was "much smaller" than that tsunami, and only had 3% of the energy generated by the 2004 quake that caused the deaths of hundreds of thousands.
A Tsunami has already struck American Samoa in the last few hours and several are already reported dead. A senior hospital employee in the main hospital for American Samoa has spoken to the BBC in a live phone call and explained the seriousness of the situation. Homes have already been swept away and many are reported dead.
A Tsunami warning is in place for the Samoa islands, New Zealand, Tonga and Fiji, the Pacific Tsunami Warning Centre said.
"Based on all available data, a tsunami may have been generated by this earthquake that could be destructive on coastal areas even far from the epicentre," the PTWC - a branch of the US National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration
Mr Weinstein said Tuesday's quake was "much smaller" than that tsunami, and only had 3% of the energy generated by the 2004 quake that caused the deaths of hundreds of thousands.
-
- groups:
- Current Tonight, Webmash
-
- tags:
- News, News and Politics, Breaking News, Earthquake, 6 more
