Tsunami threatens Hawaiian islands: U.S. agency
The Pacific Tsunami Warning Center issued a tsunami warning — its highest alert — for Hawaii, where incoming waves could cause damage along the coastlines across the island chain. A warning was also in effect for Guam, American Samoa and dozens of other Pacific islands.
The first waves were expected to arrive in Hawaii at 11:19 a.m. Saturday (4:19 p.m. EST).
The state planned to sound warning sirens statewide at 6 a.m. to alert residents and tourists of the incoming tsunami, said Shelly Ichishita, spokeswoman for state civil defense.
"Urgent action should be taken to protect lives and property," the center said in a bulletin. "All shores are at risk no matter which direction they face."
Geophysicist Victor Sardina said the Hawaii-based center was urging all countries included the warning to take the threat very seriously.
"Everybody is under a warning because the wave, we know, is on its way. Everybody is at risk now," he said in a telephone interview.
The warning follows a massive earthquake in Chile that killed at least 78 people and triggered tsunamis up and down the coast of the earthquake-prone country.
The center estimates the first tsunami, which is a series of several waves in succession, will hit Hawaii at 11:19 a.m. Hawaii time (4 p.m. EST).
