New Zealand coastlines remain on alert after Russia quake triggers tsunami warning

NZ Herald

5 days ago

National Emergency Management (Nema) said the areas under the National Advisory that are experiencing strong and unusual currents have been reduced.
The remainder of the West Coast of the South Island and Cook Strait that remain under a beach and marine tsunami threat were assessed as only just reaching that threshold, Nema said.
A further update will be provided at 8am today.
So far, New Zealand has remained relatively unscathed, with the largest tsunami wave reaching 51cm high on the Chatham Islands.
The first signs of the arrival of the tsunami were detected about 1am yesterday on the North Cape tide gauge, GeoNet said.
Kiwis then awoke at 6.30am to the second updated tsunami warning of 'strong currents and surges' that advised people to 'stay away from water'. Signs at Tutukākā Marina on Thursday morning following alerts from Civil Defence. Photo / Brodie Stone
People on boats, live-aboards and at marinas were advised to leave their boats/vessels and move on to shore.
The tsunami also posed a risk to swimmers, surfers, people fishing, and anyone in or near the water close to the shore.
In spite of the raised concern by authorities, a few dozen people were seen on the sand, easing into their morning routines at a popular Auckland beach. New Zealand wakes to emergency alert 'glitch'
Civil Defence began investigating a system 'glitch' after multiple people told the Herald or complained on social media of being woken by alerts between 1.50am and 3am yesterday.
Emergency Management Minister Mark Mitchell told the media that the two official emergency alerts were justified.
'I can tell you right now that if we hadn't done that and there'd been half a dozen people swept off the beach this morning when they were walking their dogs at 6:30 and had been drowned, then I'd be standing here being asked why we didn't use our national alert system.'
Mitchell said: 'We don't have the luxury of playing Russian roulette with people's lives.'
Speaking to Herald NOW's Ryan Bridge on Thursday morning, Government minister Shane Jones said he had switched off his phone and gone to bed early after enjoying a few wines and missed the alert completely. Impacts on the Pacific
On Wednesday, the tsunami wave swept away buildings on the coastal area of Severo-Kurilsk, the main settlement on Russia's Kuril Islands in the Pacific, and authorities declared a state of emergency. This image shows the epicentre of an 8.8 earthquake that hit off Russia's far east. Image / US Geological Survey
In Japan, tsunami waves reached Hokkaido, prompting evacuations of more than two million people, train suspensions, and heightened concern near the Fukushima nuclear plant.
Tsunami warnings were issued across the Pacific, with waves of over 3m possible in parts of Russia, Japan, Ecuador, and the northwestern Hawaiian islands.
Authorities in the Philippines and California also issued alerts, warning people to stay away from the coast.
The Klyuchevskoy volcano on the Kamchatka peninsula in Russia's far east started erupting after Wednesday's powerful earthquake in the Pacific, the Russian state news agency RIA reported.
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