Hawaii prepares evacuations ahead of tsunami

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neufer
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Hawaii prepares evacuations ahead of tsunami

Post by neufer » Sat Feb 27, 2010 3:47 pm

http://www.reuters.com/article/idUSTRE61Q1A720100227 wrote:
Hawaii prepares evacuations ahead of tsunami
HONOLULU Sat Feb 27, 2010 10:04am EST

HONOLULU (Reuters) - Hawaii prepared to start evacuations ahead of a tsunami generated by a massive earthquake in Chile, a civil defense official on the U.S. island said on Saturday.

It planned to sound civil defense sirens across the island state at 6 a.m. local time (11 a.m. EST) after the Pacific Tsunami Warning Center said a tsunami was generated that could cause damage along the coasts of all the Hawaiian islands,

"Get off the shore line. We are closing all the beaches and telling people to drive out of the area," said John Cummings, Oahu Civil Defense spokesman.

Buses will patrol beaches and take people to parks in a voluntary process expected to last five hours.

More than an hour before sirens were due to sound lines of cars snaked for blocks from gas stations in Honolulu.

"Urgent action should be taken to protect lives and property," the Warning Center said in a bulletin. "All shores are at risk no matter which direction they face."

The center has issued a Pacific-wide tsunami warning that included Hawaii and stretched across the ocean from South America to the Pacific Rim.

Geophysicist Victor Sardina said the Hawaii-based center was urging all countries included in the warning to take the threat very seriously.

"Everybody is under a warning because the wave, we know, is on its way. Everybody is at risk now," he said in a telephone interview.

The warning follows a huge earthquake in Chile that killed at least 82 people and triggered tsunamis up and down the coast of the earthquake-prone country.

The center estimates the first tsunami, which is a series of several waves in succession, will hit Hawaii at 11:19 a.m. Hawaii time (4:19 p.m. EST) in the town of Hilo on the Big Island of Hawaii, with waves in Honolulu at 11:52 a.m.

Sardina said the Hawaiian islands could expect waves of six feet (two meters) in some places. Other estimates have been higher but he could not confirm those were likely.

Sardina said the center was looking at Hilo Bay on Hawaii Island as a worst-case scenario right now.

"The shape of the bay favors the waves gaining in height," he said in a telephone interview.

He said California and Alaska could also be affected, but the impact on those coasts should be minimal.

(Reporting by Suzanne Gordon and Ikaika Hussey in Hawaii and Doina Chiacu in Washington; writing by Peter Henderson, editing by Vicki Allen)
Art Neuendorffer

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BA: Magnitude 8.8 earthquake off Chile coast

Post by bystander » Sat Feb 27, 2010 6:27 pm

Magnitude 8.8 earthquake off Chile coast
Last night at 06:34 UTC, a huge earthquake struck on the coast of Chile, with a reported magnitude of a numbing 8.8 on the Richter scale — making it one of the largest earthquakes recorded on Earth since 1900.

A tsunami warning has been issued for the entire Pacific ocean. This is no joke; the tsunami gauges in the deep ocean have registered a wave spreading from the quake. I don’t know how big the amplitude is, but there have been confirmed reports of waves a meter high in Chile. That may not sound like much, but water weighs a ton per cubic meter/yard, so a wave that high has a lot of destructive power.
Image
Modeled energy wave expected from the earthquake (NOAA)

http://www.prh.noaa.gov/ptwc/

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UT:8.8 Magnitude Earthquake in Chile; Pacific Tsunamis Predi

Post by bystander » Sat Feb 27, 2010 6:35 pm

8.8 Magnitude Earthquake in Chile; Tsunamis Predicted for Pacific Region
A devastating magnitude-8.8 earthquake struck Chile early Saturday, shattering buildings and bridges, killing over 100 people and setting off a tsunami that threatens every nation around the Pacific Ocean — roughly a quarter of the globe. Experts warned that a tsunami could strike anywhere in the Pacific, and Hawaii could face its largest waves since 1964. The Pacific Tsunami Warning Center predicts a possible 2.5 meter (8.2-foot) wave to strike Hilo, Hawaii, at 11:05 a.m. local time (4:05 p.m. ET).
Image
Earthquake radius in Chile. (San Francisco Sentinel).
Several astronomical observatories are located in Chile, and as of this writing, the word on Twitter is that Gemini South's servers have come back online, but Cerro Tollo (CTIO) and SLOOH servers are down. No word on telescopes yet at Paranal, which is north of Santiago, Chile. From the ALMA crew at NRAO, "Reports from our people in Santiago are trickling in; so far everyone is ok, but quite rattled."

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PhysOrg: Chile quake wave racing to Asia at jet speed

Post by bystander » Sat Feb 27, 2010 7:58 pm

Chile quake wave racing to Asia at jet speed
A tsunami triggered by the powerful quake that rocked Chile was Saturday racing across the Pacific Ocean towards Hawaii and Asia at around 450 miles per hour, a quake expert said.

Estimating the depth of the wave's water column to be around four kilometers on average, Roger Bilham, a professor of geological sciences at the University of Colorado, calculated that at mid-ocean, the mass of water would be hurtling toward Hawaii at 200 meters per second, or 720 kilometers per hour (446 mph).

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Telegraph: Chile earthquake: tsunami hits New Zealand

Post by bystander » Sat Feb 27, 2010 8:10 pm

Chile earthquake: tsunami hits New Zealand
The first waves of the tsunami triggered by the earthquake in Chile have hit New Zealand's eastern Chatham Islands and officials have warned bigger waves are to follow.

New Zealand's entire east coast is at risk with waves up to three metres (10 feet) expected to hit the Chatham Islands and Banks Peninsula, near the main South Island city of Christchurch.

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Re: Hawaii prepares evacuations ahead of tsunami

Post by neufer » Sat Feb 27, 2010 8:55 pm

Image
This chart shows the computerized model for the propagation of tsunami waves from the Chile earthquake,
color-coded to indicate maximum wave amplitude. 2:50 p.m. ET, 2/27/10
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Re: Hawaii prepares evacuations ahead of tsunami

Post by bystander » Sat Feb 27, 2010 10:10 pm

Image

Reuters
Sat Feb 27, 7:12 AM ET

An image generated by the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) West Coast and Alaska Tsunami Warning Center shows the projected tsunami travel times following a 8.8-magnitude earthquake that rocked Chile early February 27, 2010. A massive magnitude-8.8 earthquake struck south-central Chile early on Saturday, triggering a tsunami and rattling buildings in the capital Santiago. REUTERS/NOAA/Handout

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UT: Chilean Telescopes OK, ESO, Gemini Report

Post by bystander » Mon Mar 01, 2010 2:25 am

Chilean Telescopes OK, ESO, Gemini Report
Universe Today - 2010 Feb 28
The European Southern Observatory, which has several telescopes housed in the mountains of Chile, issued a press release that none of the observatories suffered any damage, and they have no reports of any staff that were injured or killed in the magnitutde 8.8 earthquake that struck central Chile on February 27, 2010:
  • Despite being the 7th strongest earthquake ever recorded worldwide, the ESO observatory sites did not suffer any damage, partly as they are engineered to withstand seismic activity and partly due to their distances from the epicentre. At La Silla, a power cut caused observations to stop during the night. Paranal Observatory, the APEX telescope and the ALMA Operations Support Facility and Array Operations Site were unaffected.
Additionally, the Gemini South Observatory posted on their website that they experienced no significant damage:
  • Gemini was fortunate that there were no significant structural damages to any of our facilities. The earthquake disrupted observations on early Saturday morning for less than 30 minutes. Subsequent operations have been essentially normal with the exception of Internet connectivity. We are dealing with communications and minor power inconsistencies that should be solved once general Chilean infrastructure issues are resolved. The temblor struck about 700 kilometers south of Gemini South which is on Cerro Pachón.
ESO reported that they are experiencing power outages and network interruptions, which means that communication may be limited. "Disruption to staff travel plans within, to, and from Chile should be expected. We urge Visiting Astronomers with observations planned at ESO observatories to put their trips to Chile on hold until further notice. International flights to and from Santiago International Airport are currently either cancelled or diverted. Information about observing programmes will be provided at a later date," the press release said.

Other observatories in Chile include Cerro Tololo (CTIO) and SLOOH. The servers for the websites for these observatories were down on Saturday, but are now back up.

The SLOOH Twitter account reported late Sunday that their observatory has no power but scope, pier and dome appear to be OK. "Won't know more until power is restored," they said.

The earthquake epicentre was 115 km north-northeast of the city of Concepción and 325 km south-west of the capital Santiago. The earthquake caused significant casualties and damage in the country.

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Re: BA: Magnitude 8.8 earthquake off Chile coast

Post by makc » Mon Mar 01, 2010 1:00 pm

bystander wrote:Image
This map placed hawaii at ~10cm, what's the big deal?

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Re: BA: Magnitude 8.8 earthquake off Chile coast

Post by neufer » Mon Mar 01, 2010 2:58 pm

makc wrote:
bystander wrote:
This map placed hawaii at ~10cm, what's the big deal?
The big deal is that NOAA got it right!

The tsunami was basically a fizzle (as one might expect since the 8.8 Chile earthquake was 5 times weaker than the 1960 9.5 Chile earthquake).

In fact no mandatory tsunami evacuations were ever issued.

Still people were given warnings to be prepared to evacuate if necessary.
(Better to be safe than sorry.)
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Re: BA: Magnitude 8.8 earthquake off Chile coast

Post by makc » Wed Mar 03, 2010 8:19 pm

neufer wrote:The big deal is that NOAA got it right!
Click to play embedded YouTube video.
tenorhighc1 (5 hours ago) wrote:Our media sucks! All day, all three networks: CNN, FOX, MSNBC, played the "Hawaii Tsunami" that was about to arrive, but never did. All three stations could cover nothing else for the full day, no other news in the entire world existed. Our news network TV stations can cover no more than 2 or 3 stories at a time on any given day. They are worthless. Our media is not providing a news service, at best they are providing entertainment and commentary.

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PhysOrg: Chile aftershocks could go on for years

Post by bystander » Fri Mar 05, 2010 7:04 pm

Chile aftershocks could go on for years
PhysOrg Earth Sciences - 2010 March 05
Chileans will be feeling aftershocks following last week's 8.8-magnitude earthquake for months and possibly years, scientists said Friday, as three strong tremors rocked the country.
...
Chile has been rattled by more than 200 aftershocks since the historic monster quake struck the South American country six days ago, killing some 800 people as buildings collapsed and tsunamis swept people to sea.

Several have topped 6.0 on the Richter scale, including Friday's three tremors, which were powerful enough to cause already damaged buildings to collapse.
...
"It's a lot of energy that's released, and the Earth is trying to get back to normal. In order to do that it's still moving, and that's what the aftershocks are."

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PhysOrg: South American cities moved in quake

Post by bystander » Mon Mar 08, 2010 5:23 pm

Researchers show how far South American cities moved in quake
PhysOrg Earth Sciences - 2010 March 08
The massive magnitude 8.8 earthquake that struck the west coast of Chile last month moved the entire city of Concepcion at least 10 feet to the west, and shifted other parts of South America as far apart as the Falkland Islands and Fortaleza, Brazil.

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EO: Strong Aftershocks Rattle Chile Following Big Quake

Post by bystander » Fri Mar 12, 2010 9:17 pm

Strong Aftershocks Rattle Chile Following Big Quake
Earth Observatory - 2010 March 12
In the weeks following the 8.8-magnitude earthquake that struck Chile on February 27, several aftershocks large enough to qualify as significant quakes rattled the country. A 6.9-magnitude quake on March 11 produced a small tsunami that reached Valparaíso, about 100 kilometers northwest of Santiago. According to the U.S. Geological Survey, the large aftershocks almost certainly occurred in response to tensions being redistributed to different parts of the fault following the February 27 quake.

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