Death toll in Indonesia quake rises

Search and rescue workers evacuate an earthquake and tsunami survivor trapped in a collapsed restaurant in Palu, Central Sulawesi, Indonesia Sunday. The death count doubled over the weekend to 832 as reports came in after the devastating 7.5 magnitude earthquake. 

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Death toll in Indonesia quake-tsunami tops 800

PALU, Indonesia - The death toll from a powerful earthquake and tsunami in Indonesia leaped to 832 Sunday, as stunned people on the stricken island of Sulawesi struggled to find food and water and looting spread.

The new toll announced by the national disaster agency was almost double the previous figure. 

Indonesian Vice President Jusuf Kalla said the final number of dead could be in the "thousands" as many regions have still not been reached.

"It feels very tense," said 35-year-old mother Risa Kusuma, comforting her feverish baby boy at an evacuation center in the gutted coastal city of Palu. "Every minute an ambulance brings in bodies. Clean water is scarce. The mini markets are looted everywhere."

Indonesia’s Metro TV on Sunday broadcast footage from a coastal community in Donggala, close to the epicenter of the quake, where some waterfront homes appeared crushed but a resident said most people fled to higher ground after the quake struck.

"When it shook really hard, we all ran up into the hills," a man identified as Iswan told Metro TV. 

Indonesian President Joko Widodo arrived in the region Sunday afternoon to see the devastation for himself.

In Palu city on Sunday, aid was trickling in, the Indonesian military had been deployed and search-and-rescue workers were doggedly combing the rubble for survivors -- looking for as many as 150 people at one upscale hotel alone. 

"We managed to pull out a woman alive from the Hotel Roa-Roa last night," Muhammad Syaugi, head of the national search and rescue agency, told AFP. "We even heard people calling for help there yesterday."

"What we now desperately need is heavy machinery to clear the rubble. I have my staff on the ground, but it's impossible just to rely on their strength alone to clear this."

There were also concerns over the whereabouts of hundreds of people who had been preparing for a beach festival when the 7.5-magnitude quake struck Friday, sparking a tsunami that ripped apart the city's coastline.

A Facebook page was created by worried relatives who posted pictures of still-missing family members in the hopes of finding them alive.

The disaster agency said it believed about 61 foreigners were in Palu when the quake struck, with most accounted for and safe.

Three French nationals and a South Korean, who may have been staying at a flattened hotel, had not yet been accounted for, it added.

Amid the leveled trees, overturned cars, concertinaed homes and flotsam tossed up to 50 meters inland, survivors and rescuers struggled to come to grips with the scale of the disaster.

On Saturday evening, residents fashioned makeshift bamboo shelters or slept out on dusty playing fields, fearing powerful aftershocks would topple damaged homes and bring yet more carnage.

C-130 military transport aircraft with relief supplies managed to land at the main airport in Palu, which re-opened to humanitarian flights and limited commercial flights, but only to pilots able to land by sight alone.

Satellite imagery provided by regional relief teams showed the severe damage at some of the area's major sea ports, with large ships tossed on land, quays and bridges trashed and shipping containers thrown around.

Hospitals were overwhelmed by the influx of those injured, with many people being treated in the open air. There were widespread power blackouts.

"We all panicked and ran out of the house" when the quake hit, said Anser Bachmid, a 39-year-old Palu resident. "People here need aid -- food, drink, clean water."

'I JUST RAN' 

Dramatic video footage captured from the top floor of a parking ramp as the tsunami rolled in showed waves bringing down several buildings and inundating a large mosque.

"I just ran when I saw the waves hitting homes on the coastline," said Palu resident Rusidanto, who like many Indonesians goes by one name.

About 17,000 people had been evacuated, the government disaster agency said and that number was expected to soar.

"This was a terrifying double disaster," said Jan Gelfand, a Jakarta-based official at the International Federation of Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies.

"The Indonesian Red Cross is racing to help survivors."

Images showed a double-arched yellow bridge had collapsed with its two metal arches twisted as cars bobbed in the water below.

A key access road had been badly damaged and was partially blocked by landslides, the disaster agency said.

DISASTER PRONE 

Friday's tremor was also felt in the far south of the island in its largest city Makassar and on neighboring Kalimantan, Indonesia's portion of Borneo island.

As many as 2.4 million people could have felt the quake, the disaster agency said.

The initial quake struck as evening prayers were about to begin in the world's biggest Muslim majority country on the holiest day of the week, when mosques are especially busy.

Indonesia is one of the most disaster-prone nations on earth.

It lies on the Pacific "Ring of Fire", where tectonic plates collide and many of the world's volcanic eruptions and earthquakes occur.

Earlier this year, a series of powerful quakes hit Lombok, killing more than 550 people on the holiday island and neighboring Sumbawa.

Indonesia has been hit by a string of other deadly quakes including a devastating 9.1-magnitude earthquake that struck off the coast of Sumatra in December 2004.

That Boxing Day quake triggered a tsunami that killed 220,000 throughout the region, including 168,000 in Indonesia.

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Powerful quake rocks Indonesia, 'many' buildings collapse

MAKASSAR - Indonesia was rocked by a powerful 7.5 magnitude earthquake Friday, with the national disaster agency saying that "many" buildings had collapsed in the aftermath of the huge tremor.

There were no immediate reports of deaths or injuries.

"There are reports that many buildings collapsed in the earthquake," national disaster agency spokesman Sutopo Purwo Nugroho said in a statement. 

"Residents panicked and scattered out of their homes."

Pictures supplied by the agency showed a badly damaged shopping mall in the city of Palu where at least one floor had collapsed onto the storey below. 

Other pictures showed major damage to buildings, with rubble strewn about the road and large cracks running through pavement.

Search and rescue teams have been dispatched to hard-hit areas, Nugroho said.

The quake hit central Sulawesi island at a shallow depth of some 10 kilometers, the US Geological Survey said, just hours after a smaller jolt killed at least one person in the same part of the country.

The disaster agency briefly issued a tsunami warning before lifting it.

AFP phone calls to several regional hospitals went unanswered.

The latest quake was a higher magnitude than those that killed hundreds on the island of Lombok earlier this year.

Friday's tremor was centered 78 kilometers north of Palu, the capital of Central Sulawesi province, but was felt in the far south of the island in its largest city Makassar and on the neighboring island of Kalimantan, Indonesia's portion of Borneo island.

The initial tremor struck as evening prayers were about to begin in the world's biggest Muslim majority country on the holiest day of the week when mosques would be especially busy. 

It was followed by a series of powerful aftershocks, including one measuring 5.7 magnitude.

'Earthquake, earthquake!'

"I was about to start prayers but then I heard people shouting 'earthquake! earthquake!' so I stopped," Andi Temmaeli from Wajo, south of Palu, told AFP.

Lisa Soba Palloan, a resident of Toraja, also south of Palu, said locals felt several quakes Friday.

"The last one was quite big," she said.

"Everyone was getting out their homes, shouting in fear."

Indonesia is one of the most disaster-prone nations on earth.

The Southeast Asian archipelago nation lies on the Pacific "Ring of Fire", where tectonic plates collide and many of the world's volcanic eruptions and earthquakes occur.

This summer, a series of powerful quakes hit Lombok, killing over 550 people on the holiday island and neighboring Sumbawa. 

Some 1,500 people were injured and about 400,000 residents were displaced after their homes were destroyed.

Indonesia has been hit by a string of other deadly quakes including a devastating 9.1 magnitude tremor that struck off the coast of Sumatra in 2004.

That quake triggered a tsunami that killed 220,000 throughout the region, including 168,000 in Indonesia.

The Boxing Day disaster was the world's third-biggest quake since 1900, and lifted the ocean floor in some places by 15 meters.

Indonesia's Aceh province was the hardest hit area, but the tsunami affected coastal areas as far away as Africa.

Among the country's other big earthquakes, a 6.3-magnitude quake in 2006 rocked a densely populated region of Java near the city of Yogyakarta, killing around 6,000 people and injuring 38,000.

More than 420,000 people were left homeless and some 157,000 houses were destroyed.

A year earlier, in 2005, a quake measuring 8.7 magnitude struck off the coast of Sumatra, which is particularly prone to quakes, killing 900 people and injuring 6,000.

It caused widespread destruction on the western island of Nias.

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Strong 6.4 earthquake hits Indonesia's Sumatra: USGS

JAKARTA - A strong 6.4-magnitude earthquake hit off the Indonesian island Sumatra on Sunday but there was no tsunami risk, seismologists said as panicked residents fled their homes.

The quake hit at a depth of 35 kilometers (22 miles) at 10:08 am (0308 GMT) 73 kilometers west of Bengkulu, according to the United States Geological Survey.

"The earthquake was quite strong and shallow, it was felt all the way to Padang, West Sumatra, but there was no threat of a tsunami," Mochammad Riyadi, an official at Indonesia's meteorology and geophysics agency told AFP.


He said officials were checking if there were any casualties or damage.

Bengkulu resident Neng Hasnah said the quake felt very strong for a few seconds, forcing her and her family members to flee her house.

"I was carrying my seven-month old granddaughter and I had to run, all the neighbours also ran outside their homes," Hasnah told AFP.

Indonesia sits on the Pacific "Ring of Fire" where tectonic plates collide, causing frequent seismic and volcanic activity.

An earthquake struck Indonesia's western Aceh province in December 2016, killing more than 100 people, injuring many more and leaving tens of thousands homeless.

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Powerful quake hits Japan, Fukushima residents urged to flee

TOKYO - An earthquake with a preliminary magnitude of 7.3 hit northern Japan on Tuesday, the Japan Meteorological Agency said, generating a tsunami that hit the nation's northern Pacific coast.

The earthquake, which was felt in Tokyo, was centred off the coast of Fukushima prefecture at a depth of about 10 km (6 miles) and struck at 5:59 a.m. (2059 GMT) the agency said.

A 60 cm (2 foot) tsunami had been observed at Fukushima's Onahama Port and a 90 cm (3 foot) tsunami at Soma soon after, public broadcaster NHK said. The region is the same that was devastated by a tsunami following a massive earthquake in 2011.

A tsunami warning of up to 3 metres (10 feet) has been issued.

One woman suffered cuts to her head from falling dishes, Kyodo news agency reported, citing fire department officials.

Tokyo Electric Power Co, known as Tepco, said on its website that no damage from the quake has been confirmed at any of its power plants, although there have been blackouts in some areas. Tepco's Fukushima Daiichi nuclear plant caused Japan's worst nuclear disaster when it was knocked out by the 2011 tsunami.

Tohoku Electric Power Co said there was no damage to its Onagawa nuclear plant, while the Kyodo news agency reported there was no irregularities at the Tokai Daini nuclear plant in Ibaraki Prefecture.

Television footage showed ships moving out to sea from Fukushima harbours as tsunami warning signals wailed.

Earthquakes are common in Japan, one of the world's most seismically active areas. Japan accounts for about 20 percent of the world's earthquakes of magnitude 6 or greater.

The March 11, 2011, quake was magnitude 9, the strongest quake in Japan on record. The massive tsunami it triggered caused world's worst nuclear crisis since Chernobyl a quarter of a century earlier.

An Iwaki city fire dept official said there was smoke or fire at Kureha's research centre in a petrochemical complex in Iwaki city at 6:17 a.m., but it was extinguished at 6:40 a.m. Other details were not clear, he said, adding that no other major damage in the city has been reported at the moment.

One hotel in Ofunato, badly hit by the 2011 quake, told guests to stay in the facility, which is on high ground.

The U.S. Geological Survey initially put Tuesday's quake at a magnitude of 7.3 but down graded it to 6.9.

All nuclear plants on the coast threatened by the tsunami are shutdown in the wake of the Fukushima disaster. Only two reactors are operating in Japan, both in the southwest of the country. Even when in shutdown nuclear plants need cooling systems operating to keep spent fuel cool.

(Writing by William Mallard; Additional reporting by Yuka Obayashi, Chris Gallagher, Jon Herskovitz and Aaron Sheldrick; Editing Richard Balmforth and Lincoln Feast)

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Tsunami hits New Zealand after series of strong quakes

WELLINGTON -- An earthquake with a magnitude of 7.4 struck central New Zealand just after midnight, the U.S. Geological Survey said, generating a tsunami that hit the northeast coast of the South Island.

New Zealand's Ministry of Civil Defense and Emergency Management warned of the risk of destructive waves along the country's entire east coast and urged residents in low-lying areas to evacuate and seek higher ground.

Anna Kaiser, a seismologist at GNS Science, said a tidal signal or surge of up to three feet had been recorded in North Canterbury region of the South Island.

"That's reasonably significant so people should take this seriously," she told Radio New Zealand.

The quake was centered 91 km north-northeast of Christchurch, the biggest city on New Zealand's South Island. A 6.3 quake there in February 2011 killed 185 people and caused widespread damage.

The tremor, which was measured by New Zealand's Geonet at magnitude 6.6, was felt throughout most of New Zealand. Civil Defense said it was too early to assess the damage or whether there had been any injuries or deaths.

"The whole house rolled like a serpent and some things smashed, the power went out," a woman who gave her name as Elizabeth told Radio New Zealand from her home in Takaka, near the top of the South Island.

Chris Hill, a fire officer in Cheviot, a coastal town near the quake's epicenter, said officials had gone door to door evacuating residents.

"Everyone seems OK here," he told RNZ. "There's a lot of debris in houses, but at this stage it doesn't look like anything too bad has happened."

Residents in Wellington said glass had fallen from buildings into the streets and hotels and apartment buildings had been evacuated.

RNZ said the Wellington City Council had received multiple reports of significant damage.

A series of aftershocks were recorded around the country, some as strong as 6.1 magnitude.

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Chile counts cost of 'nightmare' quake

COQUIMBO, Chile - Traumatized Chileans described Thursday the terrifying moment a powerful earthquake hit, killing at least 11 people and triggering tsunami waves that ravaged long stretches of the coast.

The 8.3-magnitude offshore earthquake Wednesday evening was the sixth strongest in the history of geologically volatile Chile and the most powerful anywhere in the world this year, officials said.

Close to one million people were evacuated from Pacific coastal areas as a precaution as Chile sounded a tsunami alert, with warnings issued as far away as Japan and New Zealand.

Residents took refuge on high ground as aftershocks jolted the region all night and into Thursday.

Maria Zamorano, 60, recounted how she and her large family ran from the shoreline in Coquimbo to save themselves from the surging tsunami waves.

"If we had stayed here we would have perished," she told AFP.

The quake occurred at a shallow depth and the epicenter was 228 kilometers (about 140 miles) north of the capital Santiago, a city of 6.6 million people, where there were scenes of pandemonium as thousands fled swaying buildings.

In the hours that followed, tsunami waves of up to 4.5 meters (15 feet) came crashing onshore in Coquimbo region, 400 kilometers north of Santiago, causing extensive damage to the region's main port.

Fishing boats, trucks, cars and the remains of dozens of houses were among the debris bobbing up and down in Coquimbo city's waterfront on Thursday.

There were similar scenes in the badly hit coastal town of Illapel.

"It was a nightmare," Maria Ramirez told AFP as she swept up debris outside her house.

"We felt the tremors for a long time, too long. And then all the aftershocks -- it was terrible," she said.

"I couldn't stay standing, but luckily we made it out alive."

- Ring of fire -

President Michelle Bachelet headed to the quake-hit area Thursday to assess the relief efforts and Secretary of State John Kerry said the United States was ready to help.

"We know this is a very difficult situation," Bachelet said after meeting a group of local fishermen in Coquimbo.

"But we wish to salute the enormous cooperation of the population which ensured that -- despite the scale of this earthquake -- there are thankfully few victims."

The most recent toll from the quake stood at 11 dead, with nine others injured, according to National Emergency Office (ONEMI) director Ricardo Toro.

The last known victim was a man killed in Coquimbo.

At least 526 homes were damaged in the quake, most of them in the Coquimbo region, according to the ONEMI. A state of emergency was declared in the area, Interior Minister Jorge Burgos said.

Chile lies on what is known as the "Ring of Fire" -- an arc of fault lines that circles the Pacific Basin and is prone to frequent earthquakes and volcanic eruptions.

In February 2010, an 8.8-magnitude quake off the southern Chilean coast killed more than 500 people and inflicted an estimated $30 billion in damages.

The Hawaii-based Pacific Tsunami Warning Center had warned that tsunami waves were possible this time in French Polynesia, Hawaii and California, as well as smaller waves as far afield as Japan and New Zealand.

A minor tsunami was monitored in northern Japan early Friday, authorities there said.

- 'Horrific moment' -

In Illapel, a town of 30,000, daybreak revealed the damage done, with power knocked out, shacks destroyed, store shelves overturned and the local cemetery a chaos of broken crosses, vases and coffins.

"It was the most horrific moment, a terrible thing," local resident Ana Cortes, 35, told AFP. "Everything just kept moving, for the longest time."

Facebook said it had activated a geolocation tool allowing people in Chile to reassure friends and loved ones.

The Safety Check tool is accessed through Facebook's regular interface, and lets members check whether their contacts are in a disaster zone, signal their own presence and let others know they are safe and well.

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Tsunami drill unfolds across 40 countries

BOGOTA - Forty countries lying along the Pacific Ocean from Asia to the Americas are putting their tsunami early warning systems and escape drills to the test this week, with the key message for some coastal communities being "run and seek higher ground".

Loudspeakers, sirens and signs marking evacuation routes are being used in tsunami simulation exercises in countries including Colombia, Costa Rica and Nicaragua, to ensure warnings reach at-risk coastal communities and get them to safety.

The United Nations-backed initiative aims to test communication systems used in earthquake and tsunami warnings and improve how countries prepare and respond to disasters.

Nearly 75 percent of deadly tsunamis occur in the Pacific Ocean and connected seas, according to the U.N., causing thousands of deaths and high economic losses.

National emergency response centres and agencies in 40 countries can choose one of six simulation exercises involving earthquakes off the shores of Japan, Tonga, the Philippines, Chile, Peru, Colombia and Ecuador.

Countries participating in the five-day drill that wraps up on Friday span from Thailand, China and Australia, to the Pacific Islands, the United States and south through to Chile.

They will receive messages from the Pacific Tsunami Warning Center in Hawaii and Japan's Northwest Pacific Tsunami Advisory Center.

"This exercise will be testing a new enhanced data product that will allow governments to better forecast a tsunami's height, energy and direction of waves, and then use that data to communicate with local populations," said Bernardo Aliaga, head of UNESCO's Intergovernmental Oceanographic Commission Tsunami Progamme.

It is hoped such simulation exercises will allow countries to better assess the threat posed by a tsunami or other natural disasters and determine the appropriate level of alerts to be issued.

"We know the frequency and intensity of some kind of extreme weather-related events have been increasing in recent years. Governments and communities need to prepare for such events at anytime," Aliaga told the Thomson Reuters Foundation in a telephone interview from Paris.

Such UNESCO-led tsunami simulation exercises in the Pacific have been held four times in the past decade.

As a result, national emergency response centres are now better equipped, and there is greater awareness among government officials about disaster preparedness, Aliaga said.

But ensuring that tsunami early warnings get through effectively to those living in remote coastal areas and that people know how to keep safe from the deadly waves, which can reach heights of 10 metres (32 feet) or more, remains a key issue.

"The most challenging aspect is to reach the most vulnerable people living in isolated villages that aren't well-connected with the information coming from the national government," Aliaga said.

He added that awareness also needs to be raised among at-risk coastal communities about how to spot an imminent tsunami through signs such as receding waves.

Another ongoing challenge is to improve coordination and communication between the various government agencies involved in issuing tsunami alerts, a problem exposed following Chile's 2010 deadly earthquake.

"The exercise is about developing standard operating procedures on what each chain of the emergency response has to do and is responsible for," Aliaga said.

Countries participating in the tsunami drill will meet in Hawaii in April to review their disaster response.

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Magnitude 6.8 quake hits central Japan; no tsunami warning

TOKYO - An earthquake with preliminary magnitude of 6.8 jolted central Japan on Saturday evening, temporarily trapping 21 people when their homes collapsed and leaving 13 people injured, police and public broadcaster NHK said.

The Japan Meteorological Agency said no tsunami warning was issued after the quake, which was felt in the capital Tokyo 180 km (110 miles) away.

A National Police Agency official said the quake destroyed five houses in Hakuba village, host to ski jumping and other events during the 1998 Nagano Winter Olympic Games, but that the 21 villagers trapped were successfully rescued.

At least two of them were injured, although the degree of their injuries was not immediately clear, he said.

NHK reported 13 people were injured in the quake, including five who were seriously hurt.

Chief Cabinet Secretary Yoshihide Suga told reporters an advanced party of Japan's military had been sent to the area, and others were on standby.

High-speed trains were halted but later resumed service, Kyodo news agency reported.

There were no signs of irregularities at Tokyo Electric Power Co's (TEPCO) Kashiwazaki Kariwa nuclear plant, a spokesman for the utility said. The plant, where all seven reactors are currently off-line, is the world's largest power station.

NHK quoted an official in the village of Ogawa near the epicentre as saying there was a long tremor and documents fell off shelves.

"On the second floor of our house, the tremor was too strong to stand," said Sakiko Hagiwara, an NHK employee in the area.

"Pictures fell off the wall," she said, adding there were no cracks in the walls.

NHK also said there was a report of a landslide blocking roads near Hakuba.

Japan, situated on the "Ring of Fire" arc of volcanoes and oceanic trenches that partly encircles the Pacific Basin, accounts for about 20 percent of the world's earthquakes of magnitude 6 or greater.

On March 11, 2011, a 9.0 magnitude earthquake struck under the ocean off the coast of the northern city of Sendai. The quake triggered a massive tsunami that devastated a wide swathe of the Pacific coastline and killed nearly 20,000. It also devastated the Fukushima Daiichi nuclear plant, causing meltdowns in the world's worst nuclear disaster in 25 years.

(Additional reporting by Olivier Fabre, Osamu Tsukimori, Kiyoshi Takenaka; Writing by Linda Sieg; Editing by Andrew Roche and David Evans)

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Tsunami alert in Hawaii after Chile earthquake

A tsunami advisory has been issued for Hawaii due to a magnitude 8.2 earthquake that struck on Tuesday off the coast of Chile, but no major damage is expected, U.S. officials said.

"Based on all available data, a major tsunami is not expected to strike the state of Hawaii," the Pacific Tsunami Warning Center said in a statement.

"However, sea level changes and strong currents may occur along all coasts that could be a hazard to swimmers and boaters as well as to persons near the shore at beaches and in harbors and marinas."

The initial wave from the earthquake off the coast of Chile is expected to reach Hawaii at 3:24 a.m. (9:24 a.m. ET/1324 GMT) local time on Wednesday, the Pacific Tsunami Warning Center said.

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Indian prophet predicted Yolanda devastation?

Social media is abuzz about the alleged prediction of an Indian holy man who foretold a great flood sweeping Samar, Leyte, and other parts of the Philippines this year.

In video clips uploaded on YouTube in April, Bro. Vincent Selvakumar with translation by Sadhu Sundar Selvaraj warns his Filipino audience about a big storm that will hit the Visayas, as well as many other areas.

Selvakumar founded the Voice of Jesus Ministries. His website says Selvakumar's teachings "challenge all believers to a life of holiness and to walk in the Spirit as yielded vessels for the work of furthering the kingdom of God on earth."

Sadhu founded the Jesus Ministries, which is described in its website as "a prophetic-evangelistic work which fulfills a call of God to pioneer evangelistic outreaches to people groups among whom Christ Jesus is little or never named."

The group claims that God anointed Sadhu through "signs, wonders, and miracles."

"Since 1979, the Lord God has taken Brother Sadhu to more than 50 nations around the world to be a witness for him," it added.

Sadhu's profile says he was a former staunch Hindu before he had a "dramatic life-changing supernatural encounter with the living Christ Jesus at the age of 16."

He also allegedly predicted the Japan tsunami a year before it struck.

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Tsunami hits Hawaii; PH to be spared

A tsunami generated by an earthquake in Canada hit the US state of Hawaii late Saturday, an official from the Pacific Tsunami Warning Center announced late Saturday (Sunday afternoon in Manila).

"The tsunami is arriving right now," Gerard Fryer, a senior geophysicist with the center, told reporters. "It is coming in as we speak."

A major 7.7 magnitude earthquake shook the Queen Charlotte Islands off the west coast of Canada late Saturday, US government researchers said.

The epicenter of the tremor, which occurred at 8:04 pm (0304 GMT Sunday) was located 139 kilometers (86 miles) south of the town of Masset, the US Geological Survey said.

Numerous aftershocks, some as large as magnitude 4.6, followed the initial quake, Canadian officials reported.

The Philippine Institute of Volcanology and Seismology, meanwhile, assured there is no threat of tsunami in the Philippines.

Phivolcs Director Renato Solidum, in a text message, said: "Based on the Pacific Tsunami Warning Center latest bulletin released related to the Queen Charlotte Islands region earthquake, there is no destructive widespread threat for the Pacific Ocean. This information covers the Philippines."

He said Phivolcs will continuously monitor the situation. – with Agence France Presse

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Hawaii ends tsunami evacuation

Hawaii dropped a tsunami warning and evacuations Sunday after a major earthquake off Canada's west coast Saturday night.

After the warning was posted by the Pacific Tsunami Warning Center, Gov. Neil Abercrombie declared an emergency and officials began evacuating coastal and low-lying areas, KITV News in Honolulu reported.

The first small tsunami waves were seen off Hawaii about six hours after the earthquake, CNN said.

Five hours after the evacuations were ordered, the National Weather Service said the threat of a tsunami had decreased and was not expected to rise again.

Regardless, all beaches remained closed and Honolulu Mayor Peter Carlisle urged residents to stay ashore, HawaiiNewsNow reported.

"Right now, we do not feel it is safe for anyone to go into the water," the mayor said.

The major magnitude-7.7 earthquake struck in the Haida Gwaii archipelago along Canada's western coast Saturday night, U.S. seismologists said.

The U.S. Geological Survey said the quake occurred at 8:04 p.m. local time about 10.9 miles deep. It was centered occurred along British Columbia's coast, about 86 miles south of Masset and about 395 miles south-southeast of Juneau, Alaska

A tsunami warning was also issued by the West Coast-Alaska Tsunami Warning Center from the northern tip of Vancouver Island to Cape Decision, Alaska, although it was downgraded to an advisory soon after.

Despite the quake's magnitude, there were no immediate reports of injuries or significant damage in the mostly rural islands of British Columbia.

The Toronto Star's western bureau reported the initial quake was followed by at least two aftershocks.

"We were just sitting down relaxing and all of a sudden -- boom! I thought it was a major landslide," Dave Martynuik, who lives in the village of Queen Charlotte in the Haida Gwaii, told the newspaper in a phone interview.

source: upi.com

Tens of thousands return home in Samar as tsunami fears subside

GUIUAN, Samar - Tens of thousands of people in Samar returned home on Saturday after a tsunami alert was lifted following a 7.6 magnitude undersea quake, as local authorities began work to repair damages to public infrastructure.

The earthquake 146 km off the town of Guiuan on Samar island on Friday killed one person and caused only minor damage, but prompted the US Pacific Tsunami Warning Center to issued a tsunami warning.

Authorities ordered thousands of people living in coastal villages to evacuate, but on Saturday those that had fled to higher grounds were returning home, said Conrado Nicart, governor of Eastern Samar province.

"We've sent out our engineers and repair teams to inspect roads, bridges and public buildings," Nicart told radio, adding the earthquake caused minor infrastructure damage.

"Our people were reporting cracks on roads and municipal gymnasiums, and approaches on a bridge near Mercedes town were also damaged but remained passable to light vehicles."

The tsunami warning was initially issued for the Philippines, Japan, Indonesia, Taiwan, Papua New Guinea and other islands in the Pacific including the U.S. state of Hawaii.

Small waves of about 16 cm did hit a southern Philippine island, the seismology agency said.

"It was really scary, that was the strongest earthquake I felt in my life," Alice Caba-caba, a 50-year-old mother of four, told Reuters from her small canteen in Guiuan town, saying she was watching television when jolted by the tremor.

"Everything was shaking and falling down. Our television was broken. After the shaking, I gathered my children and we fled to a safer place because our house is near the beach. Everybody was praying, children were crying and all are panicking."

Eastern Samar, a typhoon-prone coconut-growing area facing the Pacific, is one of the poorest provinces in the Philippines. Nearly 90 percent of the sparsely populated towns are along the coast and most of the structures are low-rise buildings.

The region has been hit by two huge quakes in the past decade. At least 230,000 people in 13 Indian Ocean countries were killed in a quake and tsunami off Indonesia in 2004.

Last year, an earthquake and tsunami off Japan's northeastern coast killed about 20,000 people and triggered the world's worst nuclear crisis in 25 years after waves battered a nuclear power station.

source: interaksyon.com

7.6 quake hits east of PH

A major 7.6 earthquake hit the sea area east of the Philippines on Friday and a tsunami warning was issued for the archipelago, Indonesia, Taiwan and Japan, US seismologists said.

The US Geological Survey (USGS) said the quake had a depth of 34 kilometers (21 miles) and hit at 8:47 p.m. (1247 GMT) some 139 kilometers east of the city of Sulangan, eastern Samar.

A tsunami warning was also issued for Papua New Guinea and Guam, and a tsunami watch was in effect for the Solomon Islands, Marshall Islands and Nauru, the Pacific Tsunami Warning Center (PTWC) said in a bulletin.

The warning center said any wave generated by the quake would be expected to hit Indonesia first, at 1335 GMT.

It would then be due to hit the Philippines at 1338 GMT or 9:38 p.m. local time.

"An earthquake of this size has the potential to generate a destructive tsunami that can strike coastlines in the region near the epicenter within minutes to hours," the center said.

The PTWC later lifted the tsunami alert for Japan, Taiwan and several Pacific islands but kept it in place for the Philippines and Indonesia.

The USGS earlier said the earthquake was a magnitude 7.9, but later downgraded it to a 7.6.

Intensity

The Philippine Institute of Volcanology and Seismology (Phivolcs) said it was a magnitude 7.7 earthquake.

The earthquake’s epicenter was recorded at the Philippine trench, between Samar Island and Mindanao at 8:47 p.m.

According to Phivolcs, the following intensities were felt in provinces near the quake’s epicenter:

Intensity VII - Guian, Oras, Sulat, Borongan City, Eastern Samar
Intensity VI - Siargao, Surigao del Norte; Tacloban City; Palo Leyte; Saint Bernard, S. Leyte
Intensity V - Mati City; Compostela; Compostela; Legaspi City; Iloilo City; Beilig City; Iligan City
Intensity IV - Butuan City, Catbalogan City, Butuan City, Cagayan De Oro City
Intensity III- Cotabato City, Mambajao, Camiguin, General Santos City;
Intensity II - Marawi, Sipalay City

Tsunami alert

Phivolcs specialist Jane Punongbayan said residents in the coastal areas of northern Samar, eastern Samar, Leyte, southern Leyte, Surigao del Sur and Surigao del Sur are advised to evacuate their homes due to a tsunami alert warning number 3.

Punongbayan said Philvolcs is monitoring a possible tsunami and that the warning will be remain for 2 hours after the earthquake.

“Magbabantay tayo hanggang 10:47, kung walang mangyaring tsunami, medyo ibababa natin ‘yung alert. Pero as of now to be safe, itataas natin ‘yung alert level 3,” she said.

She also advised residents not to panic, but to swiftly move to higher ground at least 10 meters above sea level. -- With reports from AFP; Dennis Datu, dzMM

source: abs-cbnnews.com

Magnitude-7 quake strikes off Papua New Guinea but no tsunami alert raised

A magnitude-7 earthquake struck off the north coast of Papua New Guinea on Tuesday, the US Geological Survey reported.

The quake struck at a depth of 125.5 miles (202 kilometers) and was centered 137 kilometers north of Lae, Papua New Guinea's second-largest city,

The Pacific Tsunami Warning Center said no destructive Pacific-wide tsunami was expected.

Papua New Guinea is on the geologically active Pacific Ring of Fire and suffers many earthquakes but often avoids major damage and casualties because most of its people live in light and flexible housing.

However, more than 2,000 people were killed in 1998 when a magnitude-7 quake struck off Papua New Guinea's north coast, causing a tsunami that smashed into isolated villages.

source: interaksyon.com

Tsunami warning after massive quake strikes off Indonesia's Sumatra

US monitors issued an Indian Ocean-wide tsunami watch following a massive earthquake off the coast of Sumatra Wednesday but said it was not yet certain a giant wave had been generated.

"Earthquakes of this size have the potential to generate a widespread destructive tsunami that can affect coastlines across the entire Indian Ocean basin," the US Pacific Tsunami Warning Center said.

The US Geological Survey said the 8.6-magnitude earthquake, revised down from the original 8.7-magnitude, struck off the coast of Sumatra at 2:38 p.m. (0838 GMT) at a depth of 33 kilometers (20.5 miles). USGS had initially reported it as an 8.9-magnitude quake.







The tsunami warning center said it had not yet ascertained whether a tidal wave had been generated but that one was likely given the strength of the temblor, and advised local authorities to take "appropriate action."

Indonesia's disaster management agency said power was down in Aceh province and people were gathering on high ground as sirens warned of the danger.

"The electricity is down, there are traffic jams to access higher ground. Sirens and Koran recitals from mosques are everywhere," said Sutopo, spokesman for the agency.

The quake was felt as far away as the Thai capital, Bangkok, and in southern India, residents said.

Hundreds of office workers in the Indian city of Bangalore left their buildings, workers there said.

The quake was also felt in Sri Lanka and the southern Thai holiday island of Phuket, both of which were hit hard by the 2004 tsunami.

Malaysian authorities issued a tsunami alert for the country's western coastline and warned citizens to stay away from the shore following a massive earthquake in the Indian Ocean.

"We have issued a tsunami alert. We urge people to keep away from the beach in (the states of) Kedah, Perlis, Langkawi, Penang and Perak," Che Gayah Ismail, deputy director-general of the Malaysian Meteorological Department, told AFP.

"People are advised to keep away from the beaches. It is not an evacuation order."

Sri Lanka issued a tsunami warning across the island and the disaster management centre asked residents on the coast to move inland to avoid being hit by any large waves.

A government statement said waves could hit the island's eastern coast by about 1040 GMT and urged an orderly evacuation of the coastal strip.

In the Sri Lankan capital Colombo, nervous crowds gathered on the streets after the strong quake.

"There was a first jolt for five seconds, then a pause and then a really big one. It was really frightening, the whole room was shaking," said 42-year-old tourist Maria Teresa Pizarro from the Philippines.

"You could hear the wood in the furniture cracking, the curtains were moving and the ceiling fan was rattling. I just picked up the children and ran downstairs," she said from the city's coastal Galle Face hotel.

Thailand issued an evacuation order for its Andaman coast, a popular tourist destination. The National Disaster Warning Center advised people in the area to move to higher places and stay as far away as possible from the sea.

"All people along the Andaman coast must evacuate to safe areas. We expect a tsunami 1.6 to 2.0 metres high to hit Phuket and Phang Nga at 5:40 p.m. (1040 GMT)," the center's director Somsak Khaosuwan said on Thai television.

Australian Bonnie Muddle, vacationing in the Thai resort island of Phuket at the time of the quake, said people were being evacuated from popular tourist areas including Krabi and Phang nag bay.

"Everyone is getting a little concerned over here," she told AFP.

The Indian National Center for Ocean Information Service issued a red high-level warning for the Andaman and Nicobar Islands, located in the Indian Ocean, and also put out lower alerts for the coasts of Andhra Pradesh and Tamil Nadu states in the southeast of the country.

Sri Lanka issued a tsunami warning across the whole island.

On December 26, 2004 a 9.2-magnitude earthquake off Sumatra generated a catastrophic tsunami that wrought devastation across southern Asia, killing an estimated 220,000 people.

Wednesday's quake was in roughly the same area as that of 2004. The 2004 quake was at a depth of 18 miles (30 kilometers) along a fault line running under the Indian Ocean, off western Indonesia and up into the Bay of Bengal.

Last year, a 9.0-magnitude earthquake caused a tsunami and nuclear disaster in Japan, killing some 19,000 people.

source: interaksyon.com

Magnitude 6.9 quake hits in Pacific near Solomon Islands

WELLINGTON (AP) - A powerful earthquake has struck underwater off the Solomon Islands. There is no immediate word of damage and no tsunami alert has been issued.

The US Geological Survey
says today's quake had a magnitude of 6.9. It was centered 55 kilometers west-southwest of San Christobal in the Solomon Islands at a depth of 35 kilometers under the ocean's floor.

The Pacific Tsunami Warning Center says it expects no major tsunami threat from the quake.

The Solomon Islands is a country of nearly 1,000 islands that lie on the "Ring of Fire" - an arc of earthquake and volcanic zones that stretches around the Pacific Rim and where about 90 percent of the world's quakes occur.

SOURCE (Philstar.com)