Lonely Planet™ · Thorn Tree Forum · 2020 |

# Tsunami Warning Country forums / Pacific Islands & Papua New Guinea
5waldos 15:47 UTC 27 Feb 2010 | The entire Pacific Basin is under a tsunami warning from an 8.8 quake in Chile. Can't find estimated times for arrival but hours still - about 5 1/2 hours from now for Hawaii but warning out for the entire Pacific. Current estimate 1-15 feet. All of you out there take care and say a prayer for all our islands. |
5waldos 16:39 UTC 27 Feb 2010 | That estimate should be 10-15 ft. | 1
wksamoa 16:57 UTC 27 Feb 2010 | Whatever. The reality so far is even less than 1 ft, at least in the Pacific (Marquesas, French Polynesia: 0.6 ft / 18 cm). We here in Samoa are up all night already - all this will not help people take these warnings serious anymore. Check out wave heights here Click on the links under 'Details'. | 2
5waldos 17:19 UTC 27 Feb 2010 | I'm not sure what you mean by the reality so far-the tsunami is not predicted to hit out there for many hours. I hope that your figures are correct and this is just a case of the sky is falling, the sky is falling. | 3
wksamoa 17:40 UTC 27 Feb 2010 | Right now (Feb27; 06.34 Samoa Time) the Tsunami has reached the Gambier Islands and the Marquesas in French Polynesia already, as well as coasts in South and Central America. Data on the real wave heights of less than 1 ft were being reported from there to the US National Weather Service. Their NOAA Pacific Tsunami Warning Center publishes the latest warnings and observations every hour. The link given above allows to look at these data. So as far as I can see it is indeed a case of the sky is falling ... After a 8.8 quake one has to be on the alert of course. But first predictions after the quake that I read before were about wave heights of not more than 3 ft and that proves to be true. I have no idea who came up with 10 to 15 feet later on which I read as well on TV New Zealand News. Well, let us hope the best. My veranda is full of people from Apia having been urged to flee to higher grounds at 3 am already (the wave is expected to arrive here around 8 am to 10 am). | 4
wksamoa 20:33 UTC 27 Feb 2010 | The warnings were not completely unfounded and it appears to be different by location. Hiva Oa in the Marquesas reported waves up to 6 ft after all so it proved right to be on higher grounds at that time. Let us hope that there will be no damage and nobody hurt. | 5
5waldos 21:05 UTC 27 Feb 2010 | I am sitting here watching live feeds from Hilo hawaii which are expecting to have the tsunami hit any minute. It is really very strange to be watching this live knowin that this could happen at any time. Will hope that they are not destructive. | 6
5waldos 05:11 UTC 28 Feb 2010 | They were not. Destructive that is. Relief all around. Hope all those small places across the Pacific also "dodged the bullet". | 7
ozziegiraffe 13:00 UTC 01 Mar 2010 | Solomon Star reports little impact - someone saw a big wave somewhere, but no damage reported across the country (and they contacted places as remote as Sikaiana). | 8
happyexplorer 19:20 UTC 04 Mar 2010 | Time Lapse Tsunami Waves Hilo Bay Hawaii http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wnJLugo3-RU | 9