Tsunamis to hit Philippines 1 to 2:30 pm Sunday

by markitekdesign Sat Feb 27, 2010 6:12 pm

Tsunamis to hit Philippines 1 to 2:30 pm Sunday

MANILA, Philippines (2nd UPDATE) -- The first wave of tsunamis generated by the massive earthquake which hit Chile on Saturday will hit the Philippines at 1-2.:30 p.m. on Sunday.

"The estimated arrival time of the first tsunami waves is between 1:00 PM to 2:30 PM (Philippine Time) on 28 February 2010 (Sunday afternoon)," the Phivolcs said in its 11:30 pm bulletin posted on Saturday.

Dr. Renato Solidum, director of the Philippine Institute of Volcanology and Seismology (Phivolcs), told radio dzMM early Sunday that alert level 1 was still up over the eastern coast of the Philippines.

He said Phivolcs is not yet recommending an evacuation of eastern coastal communities since they have not yet established how high the tsunamis will be.

As of posting time, he said the tsunamis that have hit some parts of Chile were only 1 to 2 meters high.

Eastern coastal communities

Based on the Phivolcs advisory, the following "coastal areas fronting the Pacific Ocean that should keep watch" are:

Batanes Group of Islands
Cagayan
Ilocos Norte
Isabela

Quezon
Aurora

Camarines Norte
Camarines Sur
Albay
Sorsogon
Catanduanes

Northern Samar
Eastern Samnar
Leyte
Southern Leyte

Surigao del Norte
Surigao del Sur
Davao Oriental
Davao del Sur

"While Tsunami Alert Level 1 means that no evacuation order is in effect, communities along the identified coasts are advised to prepare for possible evacuation. People from threatened communities are strongly advised to coordinate and follow safety instructions from the Office of Civil Defense and local disaster officials," Phivolcs said.

Solidum said a powerful earthquake that hit Chile in 1960 generated tsunamis in the Philippines 24 hours after the quake.

The tsunamis were 3 meters high in Luzon, and around 6 meters in Visayas and Mindanao. Solidum described these as not so high.

He said this may happen again with the magnitude 8.8 quake that hit Chile on Saturday.

Aurora Gov. Bellaflor Angara Castillo told dzMM early Sunday that the mayors of the province have been informed about the tsunami warning and that their contingency plans are already activate.

Evacuation centers and transportation are being prepared, she said. Hopefully, "our preparations will be sufficient," she added

Precautionary alert

“Bilang pag-iingat, nagpalabas ang Phivolcs-DOST ng Tsunami Alert Level No. 1 kaninang 3:10 p.m. na ang ibig sabihin kailangang maghanda ang ating mga kababayan,” Solidum told dzMM Saturday afternoon.

("As a precaution, Phivolcs-DOST issued a Tsunami Alert Level No. 1 this 3:10 p.m. to advise the public to be ready.")

The Phivolcs director said the issuance of an alert is just part of their standard operating procedure every time there is a tsunami.

“Ito po ay standard operating procedure natin na kung magkaroon ng malaking earthquake na may abilidad na magdulot ng tsunami dito sa atin, ay nagtataas tayo ng Alert Level 1 para abiso sa ating mga kababayan. Nage-evacuate po tayo pag itinaas natin sa Alert Level No. 3 na tsunami alert,” he said.

("This is a standard operating procedure that when there’s a big earthquake that could bring tsunami to us, we issue Alert Level 1 to advise the public. We only order evacuation when we raise Alert Level No. 3).

In 1960, Chile was hit by the world's biggest earthquake since records dating back to 1900, USGS data shows. The 9.5 magnitude quake devastated the south-central city of Valdivia, killing 1,655 people and sending a tsunami which battered Easter Island 2,300 miles off Chile's Pacific seaboard and continued as far as Hawaii, Japan and the Philippines.

Solidum also said that the earthquake in Chile is not in anyway connected to the recent tremors that hit General Santos City, Butuan City and even Japan.

“Iba-iba ang dahilan ng pagkilos ng mga faults at mga bloke ng mga bato sa ating bansa (there are different reasons for the sudden movements of faults in our country,” he said.

The Phivolcs said that a magnitude 5.3 struck 76 kilometers southeast of General Santos City in South Cotabato province at 12:18 a.m. Saturday.

A shallow magnitude 3.3 also struck 30 kilometers northeast off Butuan City in Agusan del Norte province at 3:35 a.m.

A strong earthquake also hit Japan's southern island of Okinawa. The US Geological Survey said the 7.3 magnitude quake struck at 5:31 a.m. Saturday 52 miles east of the island's capital of Naha, a city of about 320,000 about 1,600 km (1,000 miles) south of Tokyo. -- With reports from Reuters and Agence France-Presse

as of 02/28/2010 1:31 AM

http://www.abs-cbnnews.com/

by markitekdesign Sat Feb 27, 2010 6:13 pm

SANTIAGO (3rd UPDATE) - One of the largest earthquakes on record struck central Chile hard Saturday killing at least 214 people, leaving a trail of twisted buildings and sending tsunami waves roaring across the Pacific Ocean.

Highways in this South American nation of 16 million were sliced to pieces, bridges toppled and buildings reduced to rubble after the pre-dawn 8.8-magnitude earthquake struck some 325 kilometers (200 miles) southwest of the capital Santiago.

"This is a catastrophe of immense proportions, so it will be very difficult to give precise figures," Interior Minister Edmundo Perez Yoma said, numbering the dead at 214, though officials warned the toll would likely rise.

Giant waves nearly 2.5 meters (8 feet) high crashed into the Chilean coast after the quake struck at 3:34 am (0634 GMT) and tore out into the Pacific, killing at least five people in the remote Robinson Crusoe islands. (Chronology: Major quakes and tsunamis)

About 50 countries and territories along an arc stretching from New Zealand to Japan braced for giant waves, five years after the Indian Ocean tsunami disaster that killed more than 220,000 people.

The ominous sound of evacuation sirens blared in Hawaii, French Polynesia and the South Pacific as a tsunami raced around the "Ring of Fire", but there were no immediate reports of casualties further afield.

The massive quake plunged much of the Chilean capital Santiago into darkness, snapping power lines, severing communications. The international airport was closed after sustaining significant damage to the terminal.

It was the second major earthquake to hit the Western hemisphere in seven weeks after more than 200,000 people were killed in Haiti last month by a 7.0-magnitude quake.

Many Chileans were still in nightclubs partying at the start of the weekend when the quake struck before dawn, ripping up roads, bringing roofs crashing down and toppling power lines.

"It was the worst experience of my life," said 22-year-old Sebastian, standing outside his house in eastern Santiago.

AFP journalists spoke of walls and masonry collapsing in Santiago while people in pyjamas fled onto the streets as buildings "shook like jelly."

"Friends who were at clubs said it was pandemonium," said Santiago resident Maren Andrea Jimenez, an American expert working for the United Nations.

"It was scary! Plaster began falling from the ceiling. My dogs freaked out."

Chilean President Michelle Bachelet surveyed the worst of the damage by plane, flying over devastated areas near Chile's second city of Concepcion in the central Maule region.

President Barack Obama said the United States "stands ready to assist in the rescue and recovery efforts, and we have resources that are positioned to deploy should the Chilean government ask for our help."

"Early indications are that hundreds of lives have been lost in Chile and damage is severe. On behalf of the American people, Michelle and I send our deepest condolences to the Chilean people," he said at the White House.

Despite officials saying up to 1.5 million homes could be affected, Chile's Foreign Minister Mariano Fernandez asked countries that had offered aid to hold off until local authorities could assess the emergency needs.

Chile does not want "aid from anywhere to be a distraction" from disaster relief, Fernandez said, adding: "Any aid that arrives without having been determined to be needed really helps very little."

US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton, due to leave Sunday on a Latin American tour that includes Chile, said she was in close contact with Bachelet and that "our thoughts and prayers" went out to the victims.

The European Union said it would provide three million euros (four million dollars) in immediate assistance. Unlike Haiti, struck by a devastating earthquake last month, Chile is one of Latin America's wealthiest countries.

The US Geological Survey said it had recorded more than 51 aftershocks ranging from 4.9 to 6.9 since the quake. A second 6.0-magnitude quake, said to be an entirely separate event killed two people in neighboring Argentina.

Asian nations have been on heightened alert ever since the massive 2004 tsunami. In the low-lying Philippines, officials warned residents to be ready to evacuate and the Japanese government was on standby to help.

Earthquake-prone Chile lies along the Pacific rim of fire and is regularly rocked by quakes, but damage is often limited as they mostly hit in remote desert regions.

In May 1960 between 2,200 to 5,700 people were killed in the 9.5-mganitude Great Chilean Earthquake, which triggered a huge tsunami that reached as far as eastern New Zealand.

as of 02/28/2010 9:00 AM

http://www.abs-cbnnews.com/

by deosrock Sat Feb 27, 2010 6:13 pm

-hwag naman na sana tumuloy yang tsunami na yan!!!

by my_world Sat Feb 27, 2010 6:19 pm

deosrock wrote:-hwag naman na sana tumuloy yang tsunami na yan!!!

sana nga kUya, kaseh.. d po ako marunong mag-swim. hehehe..!! pero here in Davao City, d namn maxadong destructive kaseh nga gulF yung body of water nmIn dto.. protected.. saNa nga wag mangyari..