Memories of Samoa's devastating tsunami were reignited as Pacific Islanders woke to warning sirens this morning. Photo / Greg Bowker
Blaring tsunami warning sirens woke up Pacific island residents early this morning resulting in mass evacuations, but most warnings have been cancelled with no reported damage.
In the Cook Islands, police sirens and radio broadcasts at 3am drove locals and tourists away from the coast to higher ground.
Rarotonga's New
Zealand High Commission first secretary Julie Affleck said police scanned beaches and went door-to-door warning people of an emergency.
More than half the island's population had been evacuated, she said.
But there had been no noticeable surges and warnings were cancelled at 10am.
"We're really happy because we've had high cyclone in our waters for the last four weeks. It's been a very busy time for us," Ms Affleck said.
Disaster management officials in Fiji said they had been warned to expect waves of as high as 2.3m to hit the northern and eastern islands of the archipelago and the nearby Tonga islands.
But warnings had been cancelled during the morning and "no significant events" occurred, the office said.
In Tonga, the New Zealand High Commission said there had been four small tsunami waves in Vava'u but no reported damage.
Hawaii had surges as high as two metres but there have been no reports of widespread damage.
But in French Polynesia, tsunami waves up to two meters high swept ashore, damaging parts of the coast.
The United States' Pacific Tsunami Warning Center cancelled its tsunami warning for most Pacific countries except for Japan and Russia.
"We dodged a bullet," said Gerard Fryer, a geophysicist for the warning centre. He said there was a possibility that the tsunami would gain strength again as it headed to Japan.
The United States' Pacific Tsunami Warning Centre has cancelled warnings for New Zealand, Australia, the Cook Islands, Tonga, Samoa, Niue, Tokelau, Fiji, Tuvalu, Vanuatu, Hawaii, French Polynesia, New Caledonia, Kiribati, Kermandec Island, American Samoa, Jarvis Island, Wallis-Futuna, Palmyra Island, Johnston Island, Marshall Island, Midway Island, Wake Island, Howland-Baker, Solomon Island, Nauru, Kosrae, Papua New Guinea, Pohnpei, Chuuk, Marcus Island, Indonesia, Northern Marianas, Guam, Yap, Belau, Philippines, Chinese Taipei, Chile, Peru, Ecuador, Colombia, Antarctica, Panama, Costa Rica, Nicaragua, Pitcairn, Honduras, El Salvador, Guatemala and Mexico.
