The public is advised not to visit beaches on the east coast for now even though the Pacific Tsunami Warning Center (PTWC) has canceled its tsunami warning, the Central Weather Bureau (CWB) said yesterday.
“Except for Russia and Japan, the PTWC has lifted tsunami warnings for other areas around the Pacific Ocean,” said Kuo Kai-wen (郭鎧紋), director of the CWB’s seismology center.
WAVES
PHOTO: CNA
Kuo said that tsunami waves arrived in Hawaii at 6:11am yesterday. The highest sea wave detected was 52cm. Previously, PTWC estimated the 8.8-magnitude earthquake in Chile would generate 2m-high sea waves in Hawaii.
The CWB reported that tsunami waves first arrived in Hualien at around 2:26pm yesterday.
The waves reached Keelung and Taitung at about 2:54pm and 2:55pm respectively. The CWB did not issue a tsunami warning because it expected the tsunami waves would only cause a minor change in the sea level.
PRECAUTIONS
Nonetheless, police and fire department officials in Hualien set up cordon lines in some coastal areas, including Horen (和仁), Chisingtan (七星潭), Beibin Seashore Park (北濱公園), Yenliao (鹽寮) and Chiqi (磯崎).
The Taitung County Government also restricted access to coastal areas from 2pm to 8pm.
Yilan did not restrict access to coastal areas, but asked visitors on the beaches to leave the area as soon as possible.
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