Tsunami Warning: Vanuatu Earthquake

TSUNAMI BULLETIN NUMBER 001
PACIFIC TSUNAMI WARNING CENTER/NOAA/NWS
ISSUED AT 2217Z 07 OCT 2009

THIS BULLETIN APPLIES TO AREAS WITHIN AND BORDERING THE PACIFIC OCEAN AND ADJACENT SEAS...EXCEPT ALASKA...BRITISH COLUMBIA... WASHINGTON...OREGON AND CALIFORNIA.

... A TSUNAMI WARNING AND WATCH ARE IN EFFECT ...

A TSUNAMI WARNING IS IN EFFECT FOR

VANUATU / SOLOMON IS. / NAURU / PAPUA NEW GUINEA / TUVALU / NEW CALEDONIA / FIJI / KIRIBATI / KOSRAE / WALLIS-FUTUNA / HOWLAND-BAKER

A TSUNAMI WATCH IS IN EFFECT FOR

MARSHALL IS. / TOKELAU / KERMADEC IS / POHNPEI / NEW ZEALAND / SAMOA / AMERICAN SAMOA / TONGA / AUSTRALIA / NIUE / COOK ISLANDS / CHUUK / INDONESIA / WAKE IS. / JARVIS IS. / PALMYRA IS. / GUAM / N. MARIANAS / JOHNSTON IS. / YAP / MARCUS IS. / BELAU

FOR ALL OTHER AREAS COVERED BY THIS BULLETIN... IT IS FOR INFORMATION ONLY AT THIS TIME.

THIS BULLETIN IS ISSUED AS ADVICE TO GOVERNMENT AGENCIES. ONLY NATIONAL AND LOCAL GOVERNMENT AGENCIES HAVE THE AUTHORITY TO MAKE DECISIONS REGARDING THE OFFICIAL STATE OF ALERT IN THEIR AREA AND ANY ACTIONS TO BE TAKEN IN RESPONSE.

AN EARTHQUAKE HAS OCCURRED WITH THESE PRELIMINARY PARAMETERS

ORIGIN TIME - 2203Z 07 OCT 2009
COORDINATES - 13.0 SOUTH 166.3 EAST
DEPTH - 33 KM
LOCATION - VANUATU ISLANDS
MAGNITUDE - 8.0

EVALUATION

IT IS NOT KNOWN THAT A TSUNAMI WAS GENERATED. THIS WARNING IS BASED ONLY ON THE EARTHQUAKE EVALUATION. AN EARTHQUAKE OF THIS SIZE HAS THE POTENTIAL TO GENERATE A DESTRUCTIVE TSUNAMI THAT CAN STRIKE COASTLINES NEAR THE EPICENTER WITHIN MINUTES AND MORE DISTANT COASTLINES WITHIN HOURS. AUTHORITIES SHOULD TAKE APPROPRIATE ACTION IN RESPONSE TO THIS POSSIBILITY. THIS CENTER WILL MONITOR SEA LEVEL DATA FROM GAUGES NEAR THE EARTHQUAKE TO DETERMINE IF A TSUNAMI WAS GENERATED AND ESTIMATE THE SEVERITY OF THE THREAT.

ESTIMATED INITIAL TSUNAMI WAVE ARRIVAL TIMES AT FORECAST POINTS WITHIN THE WARNING AND WATCH AREAS ARE GIVEN BELOW. ACTUAL ARRIVAL TIMES MAY DIFFER AND THE INITIAL WAVE MAY NOT BE THE LARGEST. A TSUNAMI IS A SERIES OF WAVES AND THE TIME BETWEEN SUCCESSIVE WAVES CAN BE FIVE MINUTES TO ONE HOUR.

LOCATION FORECAST POINT COORDINATES ARRIVAL TIME
-------------------------------- ------------ ------------
VANUATU ESPERITU SANTO 15.1S 167.3E 2231Z 07 OCT
ANATOM IS. 20.2S 169.9E 2324Z 07 OCT
SOLOMON IS. KIRAKIRA 10.4S 161.9E 2248Z 07 OCT
GHATERE 7.8S 159.2E 2328Z 07 OCT
MUNDA 8.4S 157.2E 2332Z 07 OCT
HONIARA 9.3S 160.0E 2336Z 07 OCT
AUKI 8.8S 160.6E 2336Z 07 OCT
PANGGOE 6.9S 157.2E 2346Z 07 OCT
FALAMAE 7.4S 155.6E 2348Z 07 OCT
NAURU NAURU 0.5S 166.9E 0003Z 08 OCT
PAPUA NEW GUINE KIETA 6.1S 155.6E 0005Z 08 OCT
AMUN 6.0S 154.7E 0007Z 08 OCT
RABAUL 4.2S 152.3E 0033Z 08 OCT
LAE 6.8S 147.0E 0059Z 08 OCT
KAVIENG 2.5S 150.7E 0107Z 08 OCT
PORT MORESBY 9.3S 146.9E 0123Z 08 OCT
MADANG 5.2S 145.8E 0125Z 08 OCT
MANUS IS. 2.0S 147.5E 0145Z 08 OCT
WEWAK 3.5S 143.6E 0208Z 08 OCT
VANIMO 2.6S 141.3E 0229Z 08 OCT
TUVALU FUNAFUTI IS. 7.9S 178.5E 0013Z 08 OCT
NEW CALEDONIA NOUMEA 22.3S 166.5E 0015Z 08 OCT
FIJI SUVA 18.1S 178.4E 0037Z 08 OCT
KIRIBATI TARAWA IS. 1.5N 173.0E 0037Z 08 OCT
KANTON IS. 2.8S 171.7W 0132Z 08 OCT
CHRISTMAS IS. 2.0N 157.5W 0336Z 08 OCT
MALDEN IS. 3.9S 154.9W 0344Z 08 OCT
FLINT IS. 11.4S 151.8W 0414Z 08 OCT
KOSRAE KOSRAE IS. 5.5N 163.0E 0056Z 08 OCT
WALLIS-FUTUNA WALLIS IS. 13.2S 176.2W 0103Z 08 OCT
HOWLAND-BAKER HOWLAND IS. 0.6N 176.6W 0112Z 08 OCT
MARSHALL IS. MAJURO 7.1N 171.4E 0120Z 08 OCT
KWAJALEIN 8.7N 167.7E 0123Z 08 OCT
ENIWETOK 11.4N 162.3E 0149Z 08 OCT
TOKELAU NUKUNONU IS. 9.2S 171.8W 0125Z 08 OCT
KERMADEC IS RAOUL IS. 29.2S 177.9W 0129Z 08 OCT
POHNPEI POHNPEI IS. 7.0N 158.2E 0129Z 08 OCT
NEW ZEALAND NORTH CAPE 34.4S 173.3E 0134Z 08 OCT
EAST CAPE 37.7S 178.5E 0216Z 08 OCT
AUCKLAND(W) 37.1S 174.2E 0233Z 08 OCT
GISBORNE 38.7S 178.0E 0249Z 08 OCT
NEW PLYMOUTH 39.1S 174.1E 0310Z 08 OCT
AUCKLAND(E) 36.7S 175.0E 0314Z 08 OCT
NAPIER 39.5S 176.9E 0329Z 08 OCT
MILFORD SOUND 44.6S 167.9E 0335Z 08 OCT
WELLINGTON 41.3S 174.8E 0339Z 08 OCT
WESTPORT 41.8S 171.6E 0350Z 08 OCT
SAMOA APIA 13.8S 171.8W 0141Z 08 OCT
AMERICAN SAMOA PAGO PAGO 14.3S 170.7W 0152Z 08 OCT
TONGA NUKUALOFA 21.0S 175.2W 0152Z 08 OCT
AUSTRALIA BRISBANE 27.2S 153.3E 0155Z 08 OCT
CAIRNS 16.7S 145.8E 0204Z 08 OCT
SYDNEY 33.9S 151.4E 0228Z 08 OCT
GLADSTONE 23.8S 151.4E 0301Z 08 OCT
MACKAY 21.1S 149.3E 0322Z 08 OCT
HOBART 43.3S 147.6E 0355Z 08 OCT
NIUE NIUE IS. 19.0S 170.0W 0211Z 08 OCT
COOK ISLANDS PUKAPUKA IS. 10.8S 165.9W 0216Z 08 OCT
PENRYN IS. 8.9S 157.8W 0323Z 08 OCT
RAROTONGA 21.2S 159.8W 0325Z 08 OCT
CHUUK CHUUK IS. 7.4N 151.8E 0217Z 08 OCT
INDONESIA JAYAPURA 2.4S 140.8E 0233Z 08 OCT
WARSA 0.6S 135.8E 0316Z 08 OCT
MANOKWARI 0.8S 134.2E 0336Z 08 OCT
SORONG 0.8S 131.1E 0404Z 08 OCT
WAKE IS. WAKE IS. 19.3N 166.6E 0250Z 08 OCT
JARVIS IS. JARVIS IS. 0.4S 160.1W 0307Z 08 OCT
PALMYRA IS. PALMYRA IS. 6.3N 162.4W 0313Z 08 OCT
GUAM GUAM 13.4N 144.7E 0320Z 08 OCT
N. MARIANAS SAIPAN 15.3N 145.8E 0323Z 08 OCT
JOHNSTON IS. JOHNSTON IS. 16.7N 169.5W 0325Z 08 OCT
YAP YAP IS. 9.5N 138.1E 0330Z 08 OCT
MARCUS IS. MARCUS IS. 24.3N 154.0E 0342Z 08 OCT
BELAU MALAKAL 7.3N 134.5E 0344Z 08 OCT

BULLETINS WILL BE ISSUED HOURLY OR SOONER IF CONDITIONS WARRANT.
THE TSUNAMI WARNING AND WATCH WILL REMAIN IN EFFECT UNTIL
FURTHER NOTICE.

THE WEST COAST/ALASKA TSUNAMI WARNING CENTER WILL ISSUE PRODUCTS
FOR ALASKA...BRITISH COLUMBIA...WASHINGTON...OREGON...CALIFORNIA.

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