A mild tsunami hit Hawaii late on Saturday after a powerful earthquake off the west coast of Canada, forcing a state-wide evacuation, but apparently failing to cause major damage.
TV images from the island of Oahu showed relatively small waves peacefully rolling toward shore.
Shortly after, forecasters lifted a tsunami warning issued in the wake of the quake.
“Based on all available data, the tsunami threat has decreased and is now at the advisory level and not expected to increase,” the Hawaii-based Pacific Tsunami Warning Center announced.
Highways and roads in coastal areas were reopened, allowing thousands of residents and hundreds of tourists to return to their homes and hotel rooms.
However, the tsunami, set off by a powerful 7.7 magnitude earthquake that struck off the west coast of Canada, succeeded in disrupting the weekend activities of many tourists and residents.
Countless Halloween parties were interrupted, restaurants, bars and movie theaters emptied, and highways quickly filled with cars heading away from beach areas.
Tourists from Waikiki to Turtle Bay in Honolulu were evacuated to higher floors in their hotels, and major tourist centers looked abandoned for several hours.
Haiwaii Governor Neil Abercrombie declared a state of emergency when the first alert was sounded.
Initially, the Pacific Tsunami Warning Center said there was no “destructive widespread tsunami threat” after the 7.7 magnitude quake shook the Queen Charlotte Islands off the west coast of Canada.
However, later it issued a warning, saying a tsunami had been generated by the earthquake and that it was headed toward Hawaii.
Sirens blared across the archipelago as local officials took to the airwaves, urging residents to head for higher ground — or higher floors if they were in multi-story buildings.
The epicenter of the Canadian quake, which occurred at 8:04pm on Saturday, was located 139km south of the town of Masset, the US Geological Survey said.
Numerous aftershocks, some as strong as magnitude 4.6, followed the initial quake, Canadian officials reported.
Emergency officials in British Columbia urged residents in low-lying coastal areas to be alert to instructions from local officials and be prepared to move to higher ground.
However, officials in Canada sought to calm the population.
“We would not be expecting any widespread damage or inundation,” Kelli Kryzanowski of Emergency Management British Columbia told reporters during a teleconference.
LEVERAGE: China did not ‘need to fire a shot’ to deny Taiwan airspace over Africa when it owns ‘half the continent’s debt,’ a US official said, calling it economic warfare The EU has raised concerns about overflight rights following the delay of President William Lai’s (賴清德) planned state visit to the Kingdom of Eswatini after three African nations denied overflight clearance for his charter at the last minute. Taiwanese allies Paraguay and Saint Kitts and Nevis, as well as several US lawmakers and the Inter-Parliamentary Alliance on China (IPAC) condemned China for allegedly pressuring the countries. Lai was scheduled to fly directly to Taiwan’s only African ally from yesterday to Sunday to celebrate the 40th anniversary of King Mswati III’s accession and his 58th birthday, but Seychelles, Mauritius and Madagascar suddenly revoked
The final batch of 28 M1A2T Abrams tanks purchased from the US arrived at Taipei Port last night and were transported to the Armor Training Command in Hsinchu County’s Hukou Township (湖口), completing the military’s multi-year procurement of 108 of the tanks. Starting at 12:10am today, reporters observed more than a dozen civilian flatbed trailers departing from Taipei Port, each carrying an M1A2T tank covered with black waterproof tarps. Escorted by military vehicles, the convoy traveled via the West Coast Expressway to the Armor Training Command, with police implementing traffic control. The army operates about 1,000 tanks, including CM-11 Brave Tiger
China on Wednesday teased in a video an aircraft carrier that could be its fourth, and the first using nuclear power, while making an allusion to Taiwan and vowing to further build up its islands, as it looks to boost maritime power, secure resources and bolster territorial claims. The video, issued on the eve of the 77th founding anniversary of the Chinese People’s Liberation Army Navy, featured fictional officers with names that are homophones of three commissioned aircraft carriers, the Liaoning (遼寧), Shandong (山東) and Fujian (福建). Titled Into the Deep, it showed a 19-year-old named “Hejian” (何劍) joining the group, sparking
BIG YEAR: The company said it would also release its A12 chip the same year to keep a ‘reliable stream of new silicon technologies’ flowing to its customers Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co (TSMC, 台積電) yesterday said its newest A13 chip is to enter volume production in 2029 as the chipmaker seeks to hold onto its tech leadership and demand for next-generation chips used in artificial intelligence (AI), high-performance-computing (HPC) and mobile applications. TSMC, the world’s biggest contract chipmaker, also unveiled its A12 chip at its annual technology symposium in Santa Clara, California. The A12 chip, which features TSMC’s super-power-rail technology to provide backside power delivery for AI and HPC applications, is also to enter volume production in 2029, a year after the scheduled release of the A14 chip. The technology moves
RSS