Source: Agence France-Presse (AFP)
Date: 11 Mar 2011
HONOLULU — The first waves to hit Hawaii from a tsunami triggered by a massive earthquake off Japan washed up onshore at Waikiki on Friday, with no initial reports of any damage.
The Pacific Tsunami Warning Center reported wave changes at Waianae Harbor at around 3:24 a.m. (1324 GMT), shortly before the relatively small waves were seen at Waikiki.
The Tsunami Warning Center in Palmer, Alaska placed Hawaii and parts of the US West Coast under a warning following Japan's magnitude 8.9 earthquake, urging residents to stay tuned for more information on rising waves.
"It's not going to be a major damaging event," said Gerard Fryer with the Pacific Tsunami Warning Center as the surge began to hit, although he added there might be scattered damage.
Waves were measured at 1.6 feet (48 centimeters) Nawiliwili on the island of Kauai and 2.3 feet on Barbers Point on Oahu, according to officials at an emergency center in Honolulu.
Hawaii's sirens first sounded at 9:59 pm (0759 GMT Friday) and went off every hour on the hour after that. The first waves were expected to hit the US West Coast after 1600 GMT.
The warnings also affected coastal areas through Central and South America as well as the western rim of the Pacific.
US President Barack Obama said he was monitoring the tsunami threat to his home state of Hawaii and the US West Coast after expressing condolences to those killed in the earthquake and offering to aid Japan.
"We are asking all our citizens in the affected region to listen to their state and local officials," he said in a statement.
"I have instructed FEMA (the Federal Emergency Management Agency) to be ready to assist Hawaii and the rest of the US states and territories that could be affected."
Hawaii is some 4,000 miles (6,500 kilometers) east of the epicenter of Friday's earthquake.
Hawaii authorities were arranging buses to evacuate residents and opening evacuation centers.
"All residents in tsunami evacuation zones ... should evacuate immediately," the emergency department said.
Peter Carlisle, the mayor of the state capital Honolulu, told CNN authorities had ordered the evacuation based on the "worst-case scenario."
"One of the things about tsunamis is they're very, very unpredictable, and you can't tell how many waves there are going to be, which wave is going to be the one that is ... going to cause the greatest damage."
"It's a very, very difficult situation to confront."
The US Pacific Fleet command said however that it would not be evacuating any personnel or sailing ships out of Pearl Harbor, on the southeastern side of Oahu Island, near Honolulu.
"Projected wave assessments inside harbor indicate no need to sortie ships. Taking all measures to ensure ships secure in port," it said on the micro-blogging website Twitter.
The Pacific Tsunami Warning Center, based in Ewa Beach, west of Honolulu, issued a widespread warning extending across virtually the entire Pacific Ocean, including Antarctica and South America.
"A tsunami has been generated that could cause damage along coastlines of all islands in the state of Hawaii," the center said. "Urgent action should be taken to protect lives and property."
Waves heights cannot be predicted, and the first wave may not be the largest, it said.
People scrambled to stock up on fuel, and arguments broke out as lines formed in front of gas stations, the Star Advertiser reported.
Local resident Jake Chang was filling up his truck and a plastic gas container to power his generator. "I was watching TV," he told the newspaper. "I saw the footage of Japan. It was unreal."
The warning issued by the Alaska monitoring station extended to Hawaii, the northern and central California coast, the Oregon coast, and parts of Alaska. It urged residents to move inland and to higher ground.
An advisory, a lesser state of alert, was issued for southern California and the Washington coast, where residents were urged to clear beaches and stay out of marinas and harbors.
"With an earthquake of this size, we could definitely see some water on the West Coast," said Cindi Preller, a watcher at the center.
In Japan, Foreign Minister Takeiaki Matsumoto asked Tokyo asked US Ambassador John Roos for US forces stationed in the country for help in quake and tsunami relief efforts.
The United States, which occupied Japan after World War II and is now the country's main security ally, has almost 50,000 forces stationed in the country.
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