Huge 8.0 earth quake near Tonga

[debbierlus]

http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20060503/ap_on_re_as/tonga_earthquake

tsunami warning issued.

Quakes of this magnitude only occur about once a year.

[Roland99]

1. MSNBC reporting NOAA stating 7.8 quake

[debbierlus]

2. Scary stuff.

I hope the people have enough warning to get to higher ground!

:yoiks:

[Roland99]

4. They issued tsunami warnings for that area but nothing for, say, Hawaii

or west coast of US

[Roland99]

5. I take that back! Tsunami Advisory Issued For Hawaii

http://www.rawstory.com/showarticle.php?src=http%3A%2F%2Ftoday.reuters.com%2Fmisc%2FPrinterFriendlyPopup.aspx%3Ftype%3DnewsOne%26storyID%3D2006-05-03T170030Z_01_N03390621_RTRUKOC_0_US-QUAKE-TONGA-HAWAII.xml

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The U.S. Pacific Tsunami Warning Center issued a tsunami advisory for the U.S. state of Hawaii on Wednesday but said the evidence indicated there was no destructive threat to the islands.

It said some coastal areas in Hawaii could experience small sea-level changes and strong or unusual currents lasting up to several hours beginning at 11:33 a.m. Hawaiian time.

[Roland99]

3. USGS reporting it as 8.0

http://earthquake.usgs.gov/eqcenter/recenteqsww/Quakes/usmgas.php

Magnitude 8.0 (Great)
# Date-Time Wednesday, May 3, 2006 at 15:26:35 (UTC)
= Coordinated Universal Time
# Thursday, May 4, 2006 at 4:26:35 AM
= local time at epicenter
Time of Earthquake in other Time Zones
Location 20.035°S, 174.227°W
Depth 16.1 km (10.0 miles) (poorly constrained)
Region TONGA
Distances 155 km (95 miles) S of Neiafu, Tonga
160 km (100 miles) NE of NUKU'ALOFA, Tonga
455 km (280 miles) S of Hihifo, Tonga
2145 km (1340 miles) NNE of Auckland, New Zealand
Location Uncertainty horizontal +/- 7.9 km (4.9 miles); depth +/- 32.2 km (20.0 miles)
Parameters Nst=161, Nph=161, Dmin=725.7 km, Rmss=0.9 sec, Gp= 29°,
M-type=moment magnitude (Mw), Version=6
Source USGS NEIC (WDCS-D)
Event ID usmgas

[Roland99]

6. All tsunami warnings/advisories have been canceled

CNN and MSNBC reporting this.