tsunami

Hi it occurred to me during our visit and again today. Do the Cook Islands get Tsunami warnings?

Someone posted in another forum that when she was in Fiji they had tsunami evacuation procedures in the guest services book in the hotel room (I'm assuming that it was a high end resort.) She said that the books gave directions on how to get to higher ground, what to do, where to go, etc

A lot of travellers will now have this in the back of their minds as they drift off to sleep in that beach hut.

Being a very active seismic zone, the South Pacific surely has seen tsunami.

that's exactly what occurred to me, lying there near the lagoon on Aitutaki. Then I thought oh well no sense worrying, can't do anything about it. It would be nice to know though if there is a warning system for the next trip.

so true. I was thinking of this earlier today. How many times I lay on a beach hut next to the water, without a care in the world..

Although it's possible that it might not occur in the lagoons of Aitutaki due to the large surrounding coral reef.. at least not to the extent of what happened in Thailand. Although I am not sure about that completely..

Although cyclones certain do wreak havoc on bungalows, beaches etc., so we are certainly not out of the clear at any rate.. Then you hear the old 'tie yourself up to the coconut tree" line..

i kept some pix I found on the web years ago from a german tourist vacationing on Tikehau atoll (French Polynesia) during a period when a cyclone hit. Ive been to that atoll twice now and it certainly does strike me that it could happen since the water certainly could wash over the reef quite easily..

here are the pix if you want to see them:

http://www.tikehau.de/Die_grosse_Flut/die_grosse_flut.html<BR><BR>

http://www.tikehau.de/Die_grosse_Flut/die_grosse_flut.html</a>

I did know that the Cooks has a good cyclone warning system (co-ordinated in Fiji) and there is plenty of info in the phonebook, plus tv advertising at the start of each cyclone season.

I didn't know about tsunamis so was waiting for Raro to reply. In his absence have done a web search. Both Fiji and the Cook Islands are part of the International Co-ordination Group for Tsunami Warning System in the Pacific (formed in 1968). It appears this is based in Hawaii.

There is a lot more info on the web, but it certainly seems that both the Cooks and Fiji are linked into the system and being close to both Australia and New Zealand have access to info from those countries. How the system works internally I do not know, but guess it would be similar the cyclone warnings.

Maybe Raro would know or someone there at the moment might find something in the phone book?

Here is an article about French Polynesia's seismic monitoring and tsunamis. Interesting.

http://www.tahitipresse.pf/presse.cfm?action=open&type=1&idpr=9001&lang=2

Hello All,

All of the above seem to address most of the warning system and hopefully a warning will be received.

Should you receive no warning, keep the following in mind; the "wave" is typically preceeded by a receding of the water. Any such occurence should alert you to the upcoming surge. It is rather obvious to head for high ground as soon as possible. On both Rarotonga and Aitutaki there is several areas. If you are on Manihiki, or any low lying Atoll, consider the palm trees or other high ground. Many in Indonesia survived by simply climbing tees until the water receeded.

Let's hope none of us have to use ever has to use this information, as Tsunamis are quite rare. My heart goes out to all of those affected by the current disaster and we should all do what we can to help our fellow human beings.

Papa Mike

Yes, we are part of the tsunami warning system for the Pacific. The Met service here monitors these kinds of things.

The rift (earthquake) zones are pretty far away, like off Chile, or near NZ, so we would get at least an hour or two of warning for a tsunami if there was an underwater quake in those areas, longer if it started near Alaska, which is apparently the source of lots of underwater quakes and tsunamis.