Thousands flee homes due to tsunami threat

Thousands of residents fled their homes and drove to higher grounds in anticipation of giant tidal waves hitting the islands as CNMI authorities raised late yesterday two tsunami alert in the wake of a powerful earthquake that shook the Pacific Ocean.

The warning, issued by the Emergency Management Office based on the report from the Pacific Tsunami Center in Hawaii, triggered confusion after officials lifted the first alert, then reinstated it a few minutes later just as when people were starting to return home.

But the Northern Marianas finally was cleared of the danger at about 8:15 p.m. last night. The warning was the first in five years since EMO last issued similar emergency in 1995.

Gov. Pedro P. Tenorio, who personally went to the EMO in Capitol Hill to monitor the situation, expressed relief for the cancellation, but said the government may get criticized for the emergency.

“Even one life is lost in a disaster, I will never forget it all my life especially if we don’t do anything to respond to the warning from Hawaii,” he told in an interview.

“I know people will say it’s false alarm, but as we say it’s better to be safe than sorry,” added the local chief executive.

Cars, vans and buses jammed major roads on Saipan on a rainy late afternoon when residents in low-lying areas such as Garapan and Chalan Kanoa were ordered to evacuate their homes and offices.

The Department of Public Safety mobilized police cars around the island with sirens and speaker phone blaring to ask people to move to higher ground.

Traffic bottlenecks occurred in Capitol Hill, San Vicente, As Lito and Airport Road as residents sought shelter there. Some people were seen walking to get to these areas identified by EMO as safe refuge.

Many parked in open areas as they huddled together to listen to the radio for the latest announcement. Others brought food to picnic while waiting for the clearance from authorities. 

Huge quakeM/b

EMO received the tsunami warning at around 3:35 p.m., minutes after a tremor with magnitude of 7.8 to 8.0 in open-ended Richter scale rocked Pacific Ocean — just off the coast of Papua New Guinea — at 2:55 p.m. (Saipan time).

A quake in the Pacific with a magnitude of 7.4 above automatically places several islands, including the Northern Marianas, under a tsunami warning, said EMO Director Gregorio A. DeLeon Guerrero.

“We were issued a warning, not a watch. A watch means we have to get ready and a warning means we have to take action,” he said in an interview.

Tsunami, or giant tidal waves, is generated by an underwater earthquake or volcanic eruption and could hit the nearest land in seconds, according to experts.

Aside from the CNMI, the tsunami warning took effect in Chuuk, Pohnpei, Kosrae, Guam, Nauru, Marshall, Yap and Palau. A tsunami watch was declared in Marcus, Wake, Midway, New Caledonia, Fiji, Japan, Taiwan and the Philippines.

Safety

According to Mr. Guerrero, EMO discussed with the governor the impending emergency before the agency issued the warning to residents.

The government had two hours to prepare for the evacuation as the tsunami was anticipated to hit the islands by 6:15 p.m., said EMO coordinator Mark Pangelinan.

“To be on the safe side, we issued the warning to start the evacuation. We don’t know and even they [in Hawaii] don’t know if a giant wave has already been generated by the earthquake,” he said in an interview after the first warning was raised.

EMO also instructed hotels to move out their guests, and boat owners to secure their vessels. Some hotels in the Garapan tourist district transferred their guests to rooms above the fifth floor as safety measure.

Several business establishments in the area were closed by early evening, although a sprinkling of Japanese tourists were strolling even while the warning was still in effect.

“We don’t know whether it’s going to affect us or not, but as a precautionary measure, we decided to go with the evacuation procedures so we can get these people on a safe area,” said Mr. Guerrero.

The first clearance given by the Pacific Tsunami Center came at around 6:31 p.m., but it was revoked a few minutes later. The two announcements, broadcast on radio and by police manning the evacuation areas, were met with relief from people.

The center reported there is no destructive Pacific-wide threat existed. However, some areas may experience small sea level changes.

“We are relieved that it has been canceled and nobody got hurt. It might have been a burden for the people to come up to a high area, but precaution is the best policy of preparedness rather than losing lives,” said the EMO chief.

“We had a tsunami warning in 1995 and we had to take the precaution. We were criticized because people thought we were just playing around,” he said.