Isles now under tsunami warning after 8.9 quake strikes off Japan
By Star-Advertiser Staff
POSTED: 08:16 p.m. HST, Mar 10, 2011
A tsunami warning has been issued for Hawaii as a result of a 8.9-magnitude earthquake near the east coast of Honshu, Japan.
The Pacific Tsunami Warning Center issued a tsunami watch at 7:56 p.m. after the quake struck 231 miles northeast of Tokyo. The watch was upgraded to a more serious warning about 9:30 p.m.
“A tsunami has been generated that could cause damage along coastlines of all islands in the state of Hawaii,” the agency said. “Urgent action should be taken to protect lives and property.”
The warning center said wave heights cannot be predicted, but the first wave may not be the largest.
Warning center geophysicst Victor Sardina later said 12- to 14-foot waves could hit Hilo and Haleiwa.
The earliest that hazardous waves could hit Hawaii is 2:59 a.m., said the agency, based in Ewa Beach.
Civil defense sirens sounded just after 10 p.m.
People were lining up to get gas around Oahu. Police dispatch reported arguing over gas in Ewa Beach and lines to get gas and pull into the store on Fort Weaver Road.
About an hour after the quake struck, Jake Chang, of Papakolea, was at the Aloha gas station on Vineyard Boulevard filling up his truck and a plastic gas container to power his generator.
“I was watching TV,” he said. “I saw the footage of Japan. It was unreal.”
The U.S. Geological Survey has recorded a half-dozen significant aftershocks — measuring between 6.3 and 7.1 in magnitude — since the initial quake.
The warning center said “all shores are at risk” in Hawaii no matter which direction they face.
“The trough of a tsunami wave may temporarily expose the seafloor, but the area will quickly flood again. Extremely strong and unusual nearshore currents can accompany a tsunami. Debris picked up and carried by a tsunami amplifies its destructive powerr. Simultaneous high tides or high surf can significantly increase the tsunami hazard.”
While Japan has been hit with several massive earthquakes in its history, there is no modern record of a tsunami generated from a Japanese earthquake impacting Hawaii.
In 1854, an earthquake measuring 8.4 on the Richter scale devastated the region from Tokai to Kyushu and killed an estimated 10,000 people. In 1896, an 8.5-magnitude earthquake hit the Sanriku coast; the earthquake and the resulting tsunami killing some 27,000 people.
Tsunami waves were reportedly observed in Hawaii and California, but no significant damage was reported.
And in 1946, an 8.1-magnitude quake hit Nankaido, killing 1,362.
Over the last century, tsunami have killed hundreds of people and caused millions of dollars of damage in Hawaii. The worst took place in 1946 when a 7.1-magnitude earthquake in the Aleutian Islands resulted in a tsunami that flooded downtown Hilo, killing 159 people. Hilo was hit again in 1960 when an 8.3-magnitude quake in Chile generated waves of up to 35 feet that destroyed buildings and caused 61 deaths.
The last significant tsunami in Hawaii occurred in 1975 when an earthquake off of the Big Island generated a 26-foot wave that killed two people and injured several others.
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The city has opened its Emergency Operations Center at the Frank F. Fasi building where police, firefighters, and the mayor have assembled.
“We’re looking at a potentially very serious event here,” said city Department of Emergency Management spokesman John Cummings.
He said if the Pacific Tsunami Warning Center changes the tsunami watch to a warning then all residents in coastal inundation zones will have to leave. Those areas are mapped out in the phone book or at the Department of Emergency Management website.
If there is a tsunami, the first waves should hit about Hawaii about 2:55 a.m., he said.
Residents should be listening to the radio and watching TV for information and be preparing for an evacuation, he said.
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