American Samoa--7.9 Earthquake--Tsunami Warning for Hawaii

[NHSparky]

http://www.prh.noaa.gov/ptwc/messages/hawaii/2009/hawaii.2009.09.29.180549.txt

BULLETIN
TSUNAMI MESSAGE NUMBER   1
NWS PACIFIC TSUNAMI WARNING CENTER EWA BEACH HI
805 AM HST TUE SEP 29 2009

TO - CIVIL DEFENSE IN THE STATE OF HAWAII

SUBJECT - TSUNAMI WATCH

A TSUNAMI WATCH IS ISSUED FOR THE STATE OF HAWAII EFFECTIVE AT
0805 AM HST.

AN EARTHQUAKE HAS OCCURRED WITH THESE PRELIMINARY PARAMETERS

   ORIGIN TIME - 0748 AM HST 29 SEP 2009
   COORDINATES - 15.3 SOUTH  171.0 WEST
   LOCATION    - SAMOA ISLANDS REGION
   MAGNITUDE   - 7.9  MOMENT

EVALUATION

 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 EPICENTER. AN INVESTIGATION IS UNDERWAY TO DETERMINE
 IF THERE IS A TSUNAMI THREAT TO HAWAII.

 IF TSUNAMI WAVES IMPACT HAWAII THE ESTIMATED EARLIEST ARRIVAL OF
 THE FIRST TSUNAMI WAVE IS

                     0111 PM HST TUE 29 SEP 2009

MESSAGES WILL BE ISSUED HOURLY OR SOONER AS CONDITIONS WARRANT.

=====================================================================

GMT -10 hours = HST

GMT -4 hours = EDT
 
GMT -7 hours = PDT

The tsunami (if it hits) will be in Hawaii at just after 7 PM EDT.  Prayers up, people.

[Thor]

I wonder how many countries will come to the aid of the US & Hawaii if the Tsunami proves to be as bad as I think it could be??

[NHSparky]

I wonder how many countries will come to the aid of the US & Hawaii if the Tsunami proves to be as bad as I think it could be??

Ain't gonna be just us, kids.  Lots of other areas involved:

http://www.prh.noaa.gov/ptwc/messages/pacific/2009/pacific.2009.09.29.180334.txt

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

... A TSUNAMI WARNING AND WATCH ARE IN EFFECT ...

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.

A TSUNAMI WATCH IS IN EFFECT FOR

 VANUATU / NAURU / MARSHALL IS. / SOLOMON IS. / JOHNSTON IS. /
 NEW CALEDONIA / KOSRAE / PAPUA NEW GUINEA / HAWAII / POHNPEI /
 WAKE IS. / PITCAIRN / MIDWAY IS.
=================================================================

That is one BIG chunk of ocean.

[IassaFTots]

Prayers up.  I wonder if they will evacuate any of the coastal areas in Hawaii for a watch?  I am unsure of SOP, I know hurricanes, tornadoes, and floods, but my personal knowledge of tsunami and earthquakes is non existent.  

Just saw the update for the WARNING.  Holy Schnikies.  This doesn't look good at all.

[Ralph Wiggum]

Holy crap!  A couple of good friends and their young children just flew to Hawaii last night.

[IassaFTots]

Holy crap!  A couple of good friends and their young children just flew to Hawaii last night

.

Damn.

[NHSparky]

Prayers up.  I wonder if they will evacuate any of the coastal areas in Hawaii for a watch?  I am unsure of SOP, I know hurricanes, tornadoes, and floods, but my personal knowledge of tsunami and earthquakes is non existent.  

Just saw the update for the WARNING.  Holy Schnikies.  This doesn't look good at all.

It's pretty standard.  I was stationed there, and while we didn't have any while I was stationed there, the old-timers remember the one they had in Hilo back in 1960, IIRC.  Not someplace you want to be.  Yes, they have an evac plan set up, and not just for the civilians.  If this is serious, they're probably scrambling all the Navy assets to sea as quickly as possible as well.

Keeps getting better and better:

http://www.prh.noaa.gov/ptwc/messages/pacific/2009/pacific.2009.09.29.185430.txt

TSUNAMI BULLETIN NUMBER 002
PACIFIC TSUNAMI WARNING CENTER/NOAA/NWS
ISSUED AT 1856Z 29 SEP 2009

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

... A TSUNAMI WARNING AND WATCH ARE IN EFFECT ...

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.

A TSUNAMI WATCH IS IN EFFECT FOR

 JOHNSTON IS. / NEW CALEDONIA / KOSRAE / PAPUA NEW GUINEA /
 HAWAII / POHNPEI / WAKE IS. / PITCAIRN / MIDWAY IS. / CHUUK /
 AUSTRALIA (just added)

MEASUREMENTS OR REPORTS OF TSUNAMI WAVE ACTIVITY

 GAUGE LOCATION        LAT   LON    TIME        AMPL         PER
 -------------------  ----- ------  -----  ---------------  -----
 APIA UPOLU WS        13.8S 171.8W  1832Z   0.70M /  2.3FT  08MIN
 PAGO PAGO AS         14.3S 170.7W  1812Z   1.57M /  5.1FT  04MIN

EVALUATION

 SEA LEVEL READINGS INDICATE A TSUNAMI WAS GENERATED. IT MAY HAVE
 BEEN DESTRUCTIVE ALONG COASTS NEAR THE EARTHQUAKE EPICENTER AND
 COULD ALSO BE A THREAT TO MORE DISTANT COASTS. AUTHORITIES SHOULD
 TAKE APPROPRIATE ACTION IN RESPONSE TO THIS POSSIBILITY. THIS
 CENTER WILL CONTINUE TO MONITOR SEA LEVEL DATA TO DETERMINE THE
 EXTENT AND SEVERITY OF THE THREAT.

 FOR ALL 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.

ESTIMATED INITIAL TSUNAMI WAVE ARRIVAL TIMES AT FORECAST POINTS
WITHIN THE WARNING AND WATCH AREAS ARE GIVEN BELOW. ACTUAL
ARRIVAL TIMES MAY DIFFER AND THE INITIAL WAVE MAY NOT BE THE
LARGEST. A TSUNAMI IS A SERIES OF WAVES AND THE TIME BETWEEN
SUCCESSIVE WAVES CAN BE FIVE MINUTES TO ONE HOUR.

[NHSparky]

LINK

LOS ANGELES (AP) — Experts say a magnitude-7.9 quake in the South Pacific is not expected to produce a tsunami along the coasts of California, Oregon, Washington, British Columbia or Alaska.

The quake occurred at 10:48 a.m. PDT Tuesday in the Samoa Islands region.

The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration's West Coast and Alaska Tsunamia Warning Center says it was a strong earthquake but no tsunami warning, watch or advisory is in effect.

Tsunami awareness is much higher on the West Coast since a 2004 quake off Indonesia spawned a surge that killed more than 200,000 people. Signs pointing out tsunami evacuation routes are now common in coastal California.

========================================================

Still no word on if they're starting an evac plan for Hawaii yet.

[IassaFTots]

I just checked, and the one from 2004 was a 9.1-9.3.  I wonder if that makes any difference?  I mean, I am not saying that it doesn't have the potential to be BAD, I just don't know all that much about em.  That being said, I do know that numbers ain't everything, as a Hurricane will tell you. 

Australia?  Man, that IS alot of Coverage.

[Ralph Wiggum]

.

Damn.

Found out via Facebook (she updates constantly from her phone) that they're already aware of the tsunami warning/watch and taking precautions.

[Texacon]

We used to live in Makaha on O'ahu and I drove to Ewa Beach everyday for work.  It was always just a little freaky to see those towers on the beach with the red lights on top.  I never wanted to see those red lights lit up because ... there was no where to go on that road except along the friggin' beach. 

In Makaha at least we were high enough up in the valley that a tsunami couldn't reach us. 

KC

[IassaFTots]

Found out via Facebook (she updates constantly from her phone) that they're already aware of the tsunami warning/watch and taking precautions.

That is good.  What a way to spend a vacation?

[NHSparky]

Still trying to figure out if it's a threat to Hawaii, but the quake/tsunami has already caused some deaths.

http://www.breitbart.com/article.php?id=D9B1660O0&show_article=1

Watch is cancelled in Hawaii--advisory still in effect.

http://www.prh.noaa.gov/ptwc/messages/hawaii/2009/hawaii.2009.09.29.202305.txt

BULLETIN
TSUNAMI MESSAGE NUMBER   3
NWS PACIFIC TSUNAMI WARNING CENTER EWA BEACH HI
1023 AM HST TUE SEP 29 2009

TO - CIVIL DEFENSE IN THE STATE OF HAWAII

SUBJECT - TSUNAMI WATCH CANCELLATION...TSUNAMI ADVISORY IN
          EFFECT

THE TSUNAMI WATCH IS CANCELLED FOR THE STATE OF HAWAII EFFECTIVE
AT 1023 AM HST AND A TSUNAMI ADVISORY IS IN EFFECT.

AN EARTHQUAKE HAS OCCURRED WITH THESE PRELIMINARY PARAMETERS

   ORIGIN TIME - 0748 AM HST 29 SEP 2009
   COORDINATES - 15.3 SOUTH  171.0 WEST
   LOCATION    - SAMOA ISLANDS REGION
   MAGNITUDE   - 8.3  MOMENT
   MAGNITUDE   - 8.0  RICHTER (MS)

MEASUREMENTS OR REPORTS OF TSUNAMI WAVE ACTIVITY

 GAUGE LOCATION        LAT   LON    TIME        AMPL         PER
 -------------------  ----- ------  -----  ---------------  -----
 RAROTONGA CK         21.2S 159.8W  1951Z   0.47M /  1.5FT  08MIN
 APIA UPOLU WS        13.8S 171.8W  1832Z   0.70M /  2.3FT  08MIN
 PAGO PAGO AS         14.3S 170.7W  1812Z   1.57M /  5.1FT  04MIN

 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

 BASED ON ALL AVAILABLE DATA A MAJOR TSUNAMI IS NOT EXPECTED
 TO STRIKE THE STATE OF HAWAII. HOWEVER SEA LEVEL CHANGES AND
 STRONG CURRENTS MAY OCCUR ALONG THE COAST THAT COULD BE A
 HAZARD TO SWIMMERS...BOATERS AND BEACHES.  THEREFORE THE
 TSUNAMI WATCH FOR HAWAII IS CANCELLED BUT A TSUNAMI ADVISORY
 IS IN EFFECT.

[Thor]

Looks like American Samoa got hit really hard. I haven't heard anything about Hawaii.

[Chris_]

Prayers for those families

[LC EFA]

There was another moderately large quake ( 7.6) near the Indonesian Island of Sumatra last night my time.

http://www.news.com.au/story/0,27574,26149761-401,00.html