Tonga quake sends tsunami fears across Sth Pacific
(Reuters)
Updated: 2006-05-04 22:13
HOTEL EVACUATED
Tongan officials said they were checking outer islands in the group,
particularly the low-lying Hapai Islands, which were near the epicentre. The
Tonga islands are an archipelago east of Australia, southeast of Fiji and
northeast of New Zealand.
About 140 hotel guests were evacuated from the seaside Holiday Inn hotel in
the Fijian capital Suva. The tourists scrambled in the dark up a slippy hill
behind the hotel.
"People were very frightened," said Australian Alexandra Procailo. Australian
Sharone Baskerville said her husband just said: "Grab your passport and a bit of
money".
Fijian authorities said there were no reports of damage or tidal changes, but
the country was on a 24-hour watch and people living along the coast and hotels
and resorts were on full alert.
Samoa's prime minister announced the closure of all schools in a pre-dawn
radio broadcast, while all police leave had been cancelled and officers ordered
to report immediately.
Fiji's National Disaster Management Office said there was a need to improve
communication between emergency service organisations for more efficient
disaster warnings.
The Pacific will stage a tsunami warning drill on May 16-17.
Geoscience Australia seismologist David Jepson said the tsunami alert was
prudent as the Tonga quake was regarded as a very significant event, although
much smaller than the quake that caused the 2004 tsunami.
"It is easier to cancel a warning than for people to be drowned," Jepson
said."Shallow earthquakes of this size can be very destructive and can cause
serious damage up to 500 kilometres (31 miles) from the epicentre.
But New Zealand's National Institute of Water and Atmospheric Research said
the Tonga quake on the northern end of the boundary between the Pacific and
Australian plates was unlikely to generate a tsunami across the Pacific towards
New Zealand.
"When the wave propagates away, it goes northwest and southeast. That's
almost perpendicular to where we are. The amount of wave coming off the ends of
it toward us is just really minimal," said institute oceanographer Roy Walters.
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