Wide swaths of the south Pacific, Asia and Australia braced for a tsunami after a devastating earthquake hit the coast of Chile yesterday.
Officials in Japan and Australia warned that a tsunami from the earthquake was likely to hit Asian, Australian and New Zealand shores within 24 hours.
The Pacific Tsunami Warning Center in Hawaii issued a tsunami warning that included the Philippines, Taiwan, Indonesia and many island nations in the Pacific. A lower-level advisory that a tsunami was possible was issued for northern Pacific locations, including the US West Coast and Alaska.
PHOTO: REUTERS
“Sea-level readings confirm that a tsunami has been generated which could cause widespread damage,” the center said in a bulletin after the magnitude-8.8 quake. “Authorities should take appropriate action to respond to this threat.”
The center said the first waves after a quake are not necessarily the largest and said tsunami wave heights are difficult to predict because they can vary significantly along a coast due to the local topography.
Earthquakes across the Pacific have had deadly effects on Asia in the past.
A tsunami after a magnitude-9.5 quake that struck Chile in 1960 — the largest earthquake ever recorded — killed about 140 people in Japan, 61 in Hawaii and 32 in the Philippines. That tsunami was about 1m to 4m in height, Japan’s Meteorological Agency said.
The tsunami from yesterday’s quake was likely to be much smaller because the quake itself was not as strong.
Japanese public broadcaster NHK quoted earthquake experts as saying the tsunami would likely be tens of centimeters high and reach Japan in about 22 hours. A tsunami of 28cm was recorded after a magnitude-8.4 earthquake near Chile in 2001.
The Meteorological Agency said it was still investigating the likelihood of a tsunami from the magnitude-8.8 quake and did not issue a formal coastal warning.
Australia, meanwhile, was put on a tsunami watch.
The Joint Australian Tsunami Warning Center issued a warning for a “potential tsunami threat” to New South Wales state, Queensland state, Lord Howe Island and Norfolk Island. Any potential wave would not hit Australia until this morning, it said.
The Philippine Institute of Vulcanology and Seismology issued a low-level alert saying people should await further notice of a possible tsunami. It did not recommend evacuations.
The earthquake that struck early yesterday in central Chile shook the capital for a minute and a half.
As of press time, the death toll from the earthquake has increased to 78, Chilean President Michelle Bachelet told reporters in Santiago yesterday.
A tsunami could hit Chile’s Easter Island Bachelete said, adding that coastal areas of the island were being evacuated.
Meanwhile, New Zealand issued a tsunami alert, the government said.
“There is a possible marine threat along the east coast of the North Island and South Island and Chatham Island,” New Zealand’s Ministry of Civil Defense and Emergency Management said, warning of waves of up to 1m.
Meanwhile, James Chang (章計平), deputy director-general of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, said in Taipei that last night the ministry had reached the country’s representative to Chile, Ko Jai-son (柯吉生), by telephone, and he confirmed that all government staff at the representative office in Santiago were safe.
The ministry will continue to monitor the situation and determine the condition of other Taiwanese nationals in Chile.
Overseas Compatriot Affairs Commission Minister Wu Ying-yi (吳英毅) said most Taiwanese in Chile lived either in Santiago or Iquique in the north.
He was, however, unable to give an estimate of the number of Taiwanese there.
JAPAN QUAKE
In related news, Okinawa was hit by its biggest seismic jolt in more than half a century yesterday when a powerful earthquake struck, triggering minor tsunamis.
The 7.0 magnitude tremor was measured at a depth of 22km and was centered 81km east-southeast of Naha in Okinawa, the US Geological Survey said.
Japan’s Meteorological Agency issued a tsunami warning off Okinawa island, which was later lifted. The agency separately warned against possible landslides on the island, where rain was forecast later in the day.
Small waves of about 10cm were recorded in southern areas of Okinawa, the agency said, adding that additional minor surges of the sea level may still be seen near the island.
It was the biggest jolt in Okinawa since at least World War II, an agency official said, adding that the island is believed to be located in a geologically stable region.
“It could even trace back to 1911 when a major earthquake with an estimated magnitude of 8.0 hit the island,” the agency official said.
Additional reporting by Shih Hsiu-chuan
Right-wing political scientist Laura Fernandez on Sunday won Costa Rica’s presidential election by a landslide, after promising to crack down on rising violence linked to the cocaine trade. Fernandez’s nearest rival, economist Alvaro Ramos, conceded defeat as results showed the ruling party far exceeding the threshold of 40 percent needed to avoid a runoff. With 94 percent of polling stations counted, the political heir of outgoing Costa Rican President Rodrigo Chaves had captured 48.3 percent of the vote compared with Ramos’ 33.4 percent, the Supreme Electoral Tribunal said. As soon as the first results were announced, members of Fernandez’s Sovereign People’s Party
EMERGING FIELDS: The Chinese president said that the two countries would explore cooperation in green technology, the digital economy and artificial intelligence Chinese President Xi Jinping (習近平) yesterday called for an “equal and orderly multipolar world” in the face of “unilateral bullying,” in an apparent jab at the US. Xi was speaking during talks in Beijing with Uruguayan President Yamandu Orsi, the first South American leader to visit China since US special forces captured then-Venezuelan president Nicolas Maduro last month — an operation that Beijing condemned as a violation of sovereignty. Orsi follows a slew of leaders to have visited China seeking to boost ties with the world’s second-largest economy to hedge against US President Donald Trump’s increasingly unpredictable administration. “The international situation is fraught
MORE RESPONSIBILITY: Draftees would be expected to fight alongside professional soldiers, likely requiring the transformation of some training brigades into combat units The armed forces are to start incorporating new conscripts into combined arms brigades this year to enhance combat readiness, the Executive Yuan’s latest policy report said. The new policy would affect Taiwanese men entering the military for their compulsory service, which was extended to one year under reforms by then-president Tsai Ing-wen (蔡英文) in 2022. The conscripts would be trained to operate machine guns, uncrewed aerial vehicles, anti-tank guided missile launchers and Stinger air defense systems, the report said, adding that the basic training would be lengthened to eight weeks. After basic training, conscripts would be sorted into infantry battalions that would take
GROWING AMBITIONS: The scale and tempo of the operations show that the Strait has become the core theater for China to expand its security interests, the report said Chinese military aircraft incursions around Taiwan have surged nearly 15-fold over the past five years, according to a report released yesterday by the Democratic Progressive Party’s (DPP) Department of China Affairs. Sorties in the Taiwan Strait were previously irregular, totaling 380 in 2020, but have since evolved into routine operations, the report showed. “This demonstrates that the Taiwan Strait has become both the starting point and testing ground for Beijing’s expansionist ambitions,” it said. Driven by military expansionism, China is systematically pursuing actions aimed at altering the regional “status quo,” the department said, adding that Taiwan represents the most critical link in China’s
RSS