As a blogger not allowed to link to AP stories without paying big bucks, you will have to google this title “Tsunami hits American Samoa” to get the facts of the tsunami that has hit Samoa in which an entire village has been wiped out. No fatalities have been reported as of yet.
Meanwhile, back at the ranch, the NWS Pacific Tsunami Warning Center at Ewa Beach, Hawaii is reporting the Hawaiian Islands are under a Tsunami Watch with expected arrival time of 1:11pm Hawaiian time. I will keep you updated on this post as more details are reported by Hawaii Civil Defense, and/or the big a** cruise ship sitting in the bay goes back out to sea unexpectedly, (my money is on the cruise ship).
BULLETIN TSUNAMI MESSAGE NUMBER 2 NWS PACIFIC TSUNAMI WARNING CENTER EWA BEACH HI 857 AM HST TUE SEP 29 2009
TO – CIVIL DEFENSE IN THE STATE OF HAWAII
SUBJECT – TSUNAMI WATCH SUPPLEMENT
A TSUNAMI WATCH CONTINUES IN EFFECT FOR THE STATE OF HAWAII.
AN EARTHQUAKE HAS OCCURRED WITH THESE PRELIMINARY PARAMETERS NOTE MOMENT MAGNITUDE INCREASE TO 8.3
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 ——————- —– —— —– ————— —– 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 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.
For those that have not heard about the earthquake, here are the details from Reuters and the USGS.
WASHINGTON (Reuters) – A tsunami warning was issued for New Zealand and other small Pacific islands after a major 7.9 magnitude quake struck in the ocean off American Samoa, U.S. government agencies said on Tuesday.
The Pacific Tsunami Warning Center, a branch of the U.S. National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, issued the warning after the quake hit about 120 miles southwest of the remote Pacific island of American Samoa. It struck at a depth of 20.5 miles.
A tsunami watch was in effect for Hawaii, Papua New Guinea and other small Pacific islands.
The agency noted that its warning did not mean a tsunami had necessarily been generated by the quake. The warning was issued because a quake of this magnitude had the power to generate a destructive tsunami, it said.
My prayers are with you and your family, hope all the islands are spared and damage.
Meant to say spared from damage
Same here, DT, I am praying for you and all Hawaiians.
Same here, DT.
Ditto,DT, I am praying for you and Hawaii.
Hey – we are all good here. Not a ripple and the big boat is still in the bay.
Thanks for the good thoughts folks…now we need to get to work. LOL