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http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/33075304/ns/world_news-asiapacific/?GT1=43001
Tsunami reportedly hits capital after temblor centered southwest of islands
WASHINGTON - 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.
In 2004, a quake in the Indian Ocean generated a powerful tsunami that killed tens of thousands people in Asia.
The representative from American Samoa to the U.S. Congress, Eni Faleomavaega, told NBC News that quake hit between the North Marianas Islands and American Samoa, creating 10 to 15- foot waves in populated low-lying areas like Pago Pago Bay.
"Cars were seen floating," the congressman said of Pago Pago Bay.
He said there will likely need to be mass evacuations of low-lying areas and there will be requests for assistance from Federal Emergency Management Agency and the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration.
He didn't have any reports on numbers of deaths at this time.
The U.S. State Department also said there was no word of American casualties or evacuees.
Tsunami reportedly hits capital after temblor centered southwest of islands
WASHINGTON - 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.
In 2004, a quake in the Indian Ocean generated a powerful tsunami that killed tens of thousands people in Asia.
The representative from American Samoa to the U.S. Congress, Eni Faleomavaega, told NBC News that quake hit between the North Marianas Islands and American Samoa, creating 10 to 15- foot waves in populated low-lying areas like Pago Pago Bay.
"Cars were seen floating," the congressman said of Pago Pago Bay.
He said there will likely need to be mass evacuations of low-lying areas and there will be requests for assistance from Federal Emergency Management Agency and the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration.
He didn't have any reports on numbers of deaths at this time.
The U.S. State Department also said there was no word of American casualties or evacuees.
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