Pacific tsunami warning after volcanic eruption


(Updated with point in Japan and on the American coasts)

SYDNEY, Jan 15 (Reuters) – The eruption of an undersea volcano off the coast of Tonga has triggered a tsunami warning for several Pacific island groups, where waves up to a meter high have been reported.

According to the US Tsunami Monitoring Center and the Australian Meteorological Service, waves 1.2m high hit Nuku’alofa, the capital of Tonga, located 65 km north of the Hunga Tonga-Hunga Ha’apai volcano.

The alert was also triggered in Fiji and American Samoa, where waves of just under a meter high were observed in the capital Pago Pago. However, the alert was later lifted in Samoa.

New Zealand has issued a warning of the risk of unusually strong currents along its northern and eastern coasts. However, no tsunami warning has been issued in Australia.

The eruption of the volcano, which began on Friday, sent a plume of ash and steam 20 km high into the skies of Tonga, plunging the islands partly into darkness, according to witnesses on the spot.

Evacuation orders were also issued in Japan, where waves up to three meters high were expected. Interrupting its usual programs, the television channel NHK specified that no damage or victim was for the moment to deplore.

The wave of the tsunami also began to affect the west coast of the United States, where the National Weather Service advised the population to avoid the beaches, and to the inhabitants living on a boat to evacuate their accommodation, in the States of California , Oregon, Washington, British Columbia and Alaska.

This warning isn’t as severe as a tusami alert, but the power of the underwater eruption can still cause strong currents and cause dangerous waves. (Renju Jose Sydney, with Jahnavi Nidumolu and Shubham Kalia Bangalore, French version Tangi Salan and Gilles Guillaume)



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