Japan imposed a mass tsunami evacuation yesterday but fears of destructive waves churned up by Chile’s killer earthquake ebbed across the Pacific Ocean’s vast “Ring of Fire.”
Evacuation orders forced at least 320,000 people away from areas on Japan’s east coast as oceanic surges up to 1.2m high slammed ashore. Swells from the roiling sea flooded buildings in several ports.
“Please do not approach the coast at any cost,” Japanese Prime Minister Yukio Hatoyama warned in a nationally televised address as residents were shepherded to schools and other public facilities beyond the low-lying danger zone.
PHOTO: REUTERS
However, Japan later downgraded its alert and Russia cancelled its own warning after only minor waves reached the Kamchatka peninsula, while dauntless swimmers and surfers in Australia defied official warnings and flocked to the beach.
The Hawaii-based Pacific Tsunami Warning Center lifted its tsunami warning for the entire region. Thousands of people in 19 Philippine provinces who had voluntarily fled were free to return home, officials in Manila said.
Warning sirens had wailed as about 50 countries and territories along an arc stretching from New Zealand to Japan went on alert, five years after the Indian Ocean tsunami disaster that killed more than 220,000 people.
Waves pummeled Chile and rolled through into Hawaii, French Polynesia and the South Pacific as the tsunami moved at jet-speed across the giant ocean after Saturday’s 8.8-magnitude quake, which unofficial tallies say left at least 300 people dead.
Five people were killed on the remote Robinson Crusoe archipelago far off the coast of Chile, the first reported tsunami casualties, but elsewhere no significant damage was reported and surges of water were smaller than expected.
In Japan, one of the world’s most quake-prone nations, authorities were brooking no chances with the mass evacuation. But damage appeared limited, as sea gates in fishing ports slammed shut and boats steamed home.
The Hawaii center, set up by Pacific governments after the 1960 tsunami, had warned of possible “widespread damage” from waves as high as 3m.
In Hawaii itself, the tsunami led to the evacuation of thousands of people and triggered panic buying of food, water and fuel, but there was little damage.
In the island paradise of French Polynesia schools were closed, the port in Papeete was evacuated and thousands in Tahiti’s hillside areas were taken to safety as the tsunami hit.
Waves up to 1.5m high rammed New Zealand’s eastern Chatham Islands. In Australia, the size of the surge dropped to around 40cm although strong currents swelled up the east coast.
Lorentz Engdahl, a regular on Sydney’s Bondi Beach, was one of many to ignore the warnings and take a swim, as hundreds rushed to outlooks along the Australian coast to watch for outsized waves.
“The biggest danger right now are the blue bottles,” Engdahl said, referring to the stinging jellyfish that are a common nuisance on Australian beaches.
People in Tonga and the Cook Islands fled to higher ground, after a South Pacific tsunami killed more than 180 in September.
NO HUMAN ERROR: After the incident, the Coast Guard Administration said it would obtain uncrewed aerial vehicles and vessels to boost its detection capacity Authorities would improve border control to prevent unlawful entry into Taiwan’s waters and safeguard national security, the Mainland Affairs Council (MAC) said yesterday after a Chinese man reached the nation’s coast on an inflatable boat, saying he “defected to freedom.” The man was found on a rubber boat when he was about to set foot on Taiwan at the estuary of Houkeng River (後坑溪) near Taiping Borough (太平) in New Taipei City’s Linkou District (林口), authorities said. The Coast Guard Administration’s (CGA) northern branch said it received a report at 6:30am yesterday morning from the New Taipei City Fire Department about a
IN BEIJING’S FAVOR: A China Coast Guard spokesperson said that the Chinese maritime police would continue to carry out law enforcement activities in waters it claims The Philippines withdrew its coast guard vessel from a South China Sea shoal that has recently been at the center of tensions with Beijing. BRP Teresa Magbanua “was compelled to return to port” from Sabina Shoal (Xianbin Shoal, 仙濱暗沙) due to bad weather, depleted supplies and the need to evacuate personnel requiring medical care, the Philippine Coast Guard (PCG) spokesman Jay Tarriela said yesterday in a post on X. The Philippine vessel “will be in tiptop shape to resume her mission” after it has been resupplied and repaired, Philippine Executive Secretary Lucas Bersamin, who heads the nation’s maritime council, said
CHINA POLICY: At the seventh US-EU Dialogue on China, the two sides issued strong support for Taiwan and condemned China’s actions in the South China Sea The US and EU issued a joint statement on Wednesday supporting Taiwan’s international participation, notably omitting the “one China” policy in a departure from previous similar statements, following high-level talks on China and the Indo-Pacific region. The statement also urged China to show restraint in the Taiwan Strait. US Deputy Secretary of State Kurt Campbell and European External Action Service Secretary-General Stefano Sannino cochaired the seventh US-EU Dialogue on China and the sixth US-EU Indo-Pacific Consultations from Monday to Tuesday. Since the Indo-Pacific consultations were launched in 2021, references to the “one China” policy have appeared in every statement apart from the
More than 500 people on Saturday marched in New York in support of Taiwan’s entry to the UN, significantly more people than previous years. The march, coinciding with the ongoing 79th session of the UN General Assembly, comes close on the heels of growing international discourse regarding the meaning of UN Resolution 2758. Resolution 2758, adopted by the UN General Assembly in 1971, recognizes the People’s Republic of China (PRC) as the “only lawful representative of China.” It resulted in the Republic of China (ROC) losing its seat at the UN to the PRC. Taiwan has since been excluded from