RSOE EDIS - Situation Update No. 1 : New Zealand - Tsunami

RSOE Emergency and Disaster Information Service Budapest, Hungary RSOE EDIS ALERTMAIL

Situation Update No. 1 Posted:2010-02-27, 19:21:13 [UTC] Ref.no.: TS-20100227-25126-NZL Situation Update No. 1 On 2010-02-27 at 19:34:40 [UTC] Event: Tsunami Location: New Zealand Chatham Islands Situation: A 20cm tsunami generated by a huge earthquake in Chile hit New Zealand's eastern Chatham Islands early this morning and officials warned that bigger waves were to follow. The tsunami racing across the Pacific Ocean towards Hawaii and Asia was triggered by an 8.8 earthquake that rocked Chile early this morning. Roger Bilham, a professor of geological sciences at the University of Colorado, calculated that at mid-ocean, the mass of water would be hurtling toward Hawaii at 200 metres per second, or 720km/h. "Mid-ocean, the wave is travelling at around the speed of a jet plane," Prof Bilham said. "The amplitude of the wave is small when it's mid-ocean, but it may rise to five to 10 meters when it reaches Japan or the Philippines," he said. Please DO NOT reply to this message: replies may be treated as errors and result in your subscription being deleted. If you have trouble or other queries, send email to havaria@rsoe.hu RSOE EDIS is operated by the National Association of Radio-Distress Signalling and Infocommunications (RSOE), Budapest, Hungary. Because of the complexity of this system and its dependence on other systems, we cannot be responsible for delays or failures in forwarding or transmission. You're receiving this AlertMail because you subscribed for the service. To stop receiving these emails, you may unsubscribe now. Contact: havaria@rsoe.hu