Quake evacuation
Kiwis flee after big tremors set off tsunami alert
WELLINGTON: Tens of thousands of coastal residents in New Zealand, New Caledonia and Vanuatu fled for higher ground on Friday as a cluster of powerful undersea earthquakes sparked a Pacific-wide tsunami alert.
Warning sirens sounded across Noumea as authorities ordered evacuations amid fears that waves of up to 3m were headed towards the French territory.
“People must leave beach areas and stop all water activities, and should not pick their children up at schools to avoid creating traffic jams,” emergency services spokesman Alexandre Rosignol warned on public radio.
In New Zealand, communities along stretches of the North Island were warned to flee as tsunami alert sirens wailed following an 8.1-magnitude quake, which came after earlier tremors in the region measured 7.4 and 7.3.
“Do not stay at home,” the National Emergency Management Agency said. “People near the coast … must move immediately to the nearest high ground, out of all tsunami evacuation zones, or as far inland as possible.”
The largest of the quakes struck about 1000km off the
New Zealand coast. It was preceded by two seismic jolts that were also enormously powerful, in an unusually strong cluster even for the Pacific Ring of Fire, where the Earth’s tectonic plates collide.
New Zealand’s NEMA said the remoteness of the quakes did not minimise their potential impact.
“The earthquake may not have been felt in some of these areas, but evacuation should be immediate as a damaging tsunami is possible,” it said.
The Pacific
Warning Centre uatu and New
Tsunami said VanCaledonia were likely to experience the largest waves. “Based on all available data, hazardous tsunami waves are forecast for some coasts,” it said.
It reported that smaller waves had already been seen in Tonga, and small waves were also possible as far afield as Japan, Russia, Mexico and the South American coast.
No damage or injuries were reported from the earlier quakes, both of which generated tsunami warnings that were later lifted.
New Zealand Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern was among those given an early morning wake-up. “Hope everyone is OK out there, especially on the east coast who would have felt the full force of that earthquake,” she posted on Instagram after the initial shake at 2.27am local time.
New Zealand experiences frequent seismic and volcanic activity but Emergency Services Minister Kiri Allan said she had never before experienced such a strong sequence of earthquakes.
New Zealand recently marked the 10th anniversary of the Christchurch earthquake, when a 6.3 tremor resulted in 185 deaths in the South Island city.