Latest news with #RNZPacific
Scoop
2 hours ago
- Climate
- Scoop
Tsunami Advisories Lifted Across Pacific Following Magnitude 8.8 Quake Off Russia's Coast
Article – RNZ There are now no formal warnings in the Pacific, but the threat of tsunami waves remains possible. RNZ Pacific Most formal tsunami warnings and advisories have been lifted in the Pacific region following a magnitude 8.8 earthquake off the Russian coast. The Pacific Tsunami Warning Center says the threat of tsunami waves remains possible. Earlier, CNN reported authorities saying tsunami waves started to hit the Marquesas Islands of French Polynesia around 10,000 kilometres away from the epicenter. Emergency authorities in the Northern Marianas cancelled the tsunami advisory for Guam and the CNMI at around 7pm Wednesday local time. Scientists at the US National Weather Service in Guam say they were fortunate the peak impacts occurred close to low tide, so wave gauges showed very small fluctuation in wave height. Parts of California and Alaska remain under tsunami advisory. Authorities say French Polynesia could be hit with waves up to four metres high, Reuters reports. They have revised their the tsunami alert for the Marquesas Islands archipelago, saying waves of up to four metres could reach the islands of Ua Huka, Nuku Hiva, and Hiva Oa overnight. A previous alert said waves of up to 2.2m could affect the islands. Earlier, the French Armed Forces in French Polynesia said they were 'on alert as a precautionary measure' to assist any potential search and rescue or medical evacuation operations.
RNZ News
7 hours ago
- Climate
- RNZ News
Pacific avoids major damage after powerful quake off Russia
The tsunami waves, caused by a massive 8.8-magnitude earthquake off the coast of Russia, have now rolled on southeastward toward South America. Photo: RNZ Pacific/Caleb Fotheringham Pacific countries have emerged relatively unscathed from a restless night punctuated by tsunami warning sirens. The tsunami waves, caused by a massive 8.8-magnitude earthquake off the coast of Russia, have now rolled on southeastward toward South America. According to the US Geological Survey, there have been around 80 aftershocks of magnitude 5 or higher around the area, and there is a 59 percent chance of a magnitude 7 or higher shock within the next week. "It is most likely that 0 to 5 of these will occur," it stated. This video grab from a drone handout footage released by Geophysical Service of the Russian Academy of Sciences on 30 July, shows tsunami-hit Severo-Kurilsk on Paramushir island of Russia's northern Kuril islands. Photo: Geophysical Service of the Russian Academy of Sciences The Guardian reported that a 6.4-magnitude quake struck around 200 miles southwest of the epicenter at about Wednesday 11am local time (ET). As such, while there are no longer any formal warnings or advisory notices in the Pacific, the threat of tsunami waves remains. Metservice said that waves as high as 3 metres are still possible along some coasts of the northwestern Hawai'ian islands. Waves between 1 and 3 metres tall are possible along the rest of Hawai'i, as well as as French Polynesia, Kiribati, Samoa and the Solomon Islands. In Fiji, an advisory was put in place until 10:15pm local time, though the National Disaster Risk Management Office (NDMO) has reminded citizens to remain alert and continue to follow official updates. The office said people should take this as an opportunity to update their family emergency plans and evacuation routes. The NDMO also called on citizens to refrain from spreading false or unverified information in the wake of the cancellation. Advisory notices were cancelled in the early hours of the morning across Vanuatu, Papua New Guinea, the Solomon Islands, French Polynesia and the American Territories. Samoa was the last to rescind theirs, at around 4am local time. No damage or major incidents have been reported. In the Cook Islands, the Meteorological Service warned residents to anchor their boats and tie down their washing lines. "A big boss high-pressure system chilling way down southwest is flexing hard - sending savage southerly swells and grumpy southeast winds across the group like it owns the reef." "A sassy low-pressure trough is making a dramatic entrance tomorrow, rolling in with clouds, showers, and random thunderclaps like it's auditioning for a Cook Islands soap opera." In Hawai'i, an evacuation was ordered after 12pm local time along the coast of Oahu, including in parts of Honolulu, before waves began to arrive after 7pm. As local media reported, intense traffic jams formed across Oahu as authorities evacuated people in coastal communities, and a sense of panic stirred. Lauren Vinnel, an emergency management expert at Massey University, told RNZ Pacific that the ideal scenario would have been for people to leave on foot. "We know that this is where public education and practicing tsunami evacuation is really important. "We know that if people have identified their evacuation route and have practiced it, it's much easier for them to calmly and safely evacuate when a real event does occur." The advisory notice was lifted across Hawai'i at 8:58am local time. Meanwhile, tsunami sirens sounded on and off overnight in Tonga until authorities cancelled the warning for the kingdom at around midnight local time. Siaosi Sovaleni, Prime Minister of Tonga, during the 2022 volcano eruption and subsequent tsunami, said he was pleased the country's emergency alert systems were working. "The population is better informed this time around than the last time. I think it was much more scary (in 2022)...nobody knew what's happening. The communication was down." Vinnel said that she was satisfied overall with how Aotearoa responded. "Obviously, it's not ideal that initially we didn't think there was a tsunami threat based on the initial assessment of the magnitude of the earthquake. But these things do happen. I'm not sure that there was anything that could have been done differently." John Townend, a geophysics professor at Victoria University of Wellington, told RNZ Pacific that these happen frequently around the world,"but one of this size doesn't really happen more often than about once every decade." The last time an earthquake surpassed the magnitude 8 level was the 2011 Tōhoku disaster, which clocked out at 9.1. But Townend said that the characteristics of the "subduction zone earthquake," were largely in line with expectations for it's kind, a "subduction zone earthquake". "They have happened repeatedly in the past along this portion of the Kamchatka Peninsula.... these things happen in this part of the world. "In a New Zealand context, this earthquake was about one magnitude unit bigger than the Kaikoura earthquake and it released about 30 times more energy."
RNZ News
8 hours ago
- Politics
- RNZ News
Bougainville's election challenge: one day of polling on 4 September
The Bougainville election on 4 September will feature 408 candidates, including 34 women. Photo: Office of the Bougainville Electoral Commissioner - OBEC This year's Bougainville election will be a single-day poll involving hundreds of workers across the autonomous Papua New Guinea region. It's thought such a poll has not previously been attempted in Papua New Guinea. The contest, on 4 September, will feature 408 candidates, including 34 women. RNZ Pacific spoke with the Bougainville Electoral Commissioner, Desmond Tsianai, about the process and the challenge it presents. (This transcript has been edited for brevity and clarity.) Desmond Tsianai: The model that we are using for this election is a one day model, one day polling model, and polling will actually be on the fourth of September. Don Wiseman: So there'll be polling across the country for just one day? DT: Yes, exactly. DW: Wow, that's a major logistic challenge for you. DT: Yes, that is true. We've taken all the necessary steps and planning to ensure that we cover all the polling sites and that all the polling sites have access to the closest or the nearest polling teams on the 4th of September. DW: How many polling stations for an area spread like Bougainville has spread - you must have dozens and dozens and dozens? DT: Yes, that is correct. We have around 540 plus polling stations, therefore we'll have around 540 plus polling teams. And that is just for the resident Bougainvilleans. We also have the out of constituency polling places, and that would be located in five provinces of the country. And that would be in Port Moresby, Morobe, East New Britain, Madang, Eastern Highlands Provinces. Bougainville Electoral Commissioner Desmond Tsianai Photo: Facebook / Office of the Bougainville Electoral Commissioner-OBEC DW: Now this one day polling hasn't been done before in Papua New Guinea, has it? DT: I would say so. We've tried one day polling in Bougainville, back in 2019 for the Bougainville Referendum. We saw that it worked, in a sense, and then we further trialled the one day polling model in a couple of by-elections leading into 2025 election. So from 2019 to 2025, or between 2019 and 2025, we had a couple of by elections in which we trialed the one day polling, and then we saw that it sort of worked to our advantage. In the process, we addressed some major issues in terms of transparency and to minimise the opportunity of the multiple voting by voters. DW: So in terms of a general election covering an entire region, this is the first attempt of doing it in one day? DT: That is correct. DW: You've got over 400 candidates. How many exactly? DT: 408 to be exact. DW: And how many women? DT: We also have reserved seats for women, and a total of 14 women candidates [will] contest for the reserve seats across north, south and central Bougainville. Then we have, for the single member constituencies, a further 20 female candidates contesting for the open seat. So we have a total of 34 women contesting in this election. DW: And that's a record as well. I imagine? DT: Yes, yes, that is correct. DW: There were two women who won for the first time in open seats in the last election. Would you expect that to increase this year? DT: Well, the two women that contested in the 2020 election [have] nominated contesting in this election. In terms of their chances of coming back, that's that's hugely dependent on the women themselves, and the performance over the five years, and whether people would want them to go back into government. But that's basically dependent on the performance of those members. In terms of new women going into parliament, again, it's depending on the perspective of people, what the people think in terms of the previous government and what they would want [in] the next government in terms of women being members of the parliament, and what the women can deliver and contribute to the political aspirations of Bougainville. DW: Now, one day of polling, as we say, and a lot of staff for you to organize. The counting process will take how long after that? DT: We have two weeks after polling to conduct the scrutiny of the ballot papers, accounting of the ballot papers, and to return the rates on the 22nd of September. Counting will actually start on the 9th of September, and we were planning to finish counting on the 21st of September and return the rate to the speaker of parliament on the 22nd. DW: And the counting will all happen in a central place? DT: Counting will be distributed along the three regional centres. For South it will be in Buin, Central in Arawa, in Buka we'll have two counting centres, and that is for the presidential seat and the single member constituency seats. DW: Do you anticipate issues? DT: Well, in all elections, we encounter issues. But we're hoping that this time around, with the advanced scrutiny and candidate forum that we are conducting at the moment, to minimise issues during polling and counting and thereby having smooth polling and counting exercises. DW: What about policing? Is there going to be additional policing? DT: Right now, the planning is to have the current police personnel available in Buka in Bougainville, stretched over South, Central and North Bougainville. We'll use the current police personnel that we have, and we are collaborating with the chief of police, the Bougainville Police Service, to ensure that we have police personnel providing security and just making sure the environment is peaceful for people to go to poll especially to do the counting. DW: And what about in terms of international observers? Are any coming in? DT: For the international observers, as you may know, the current political arrangement between Papua New Guinea and Bougainville. OBEC [Office of the Bougainville Electoral Commission] requests through the office of the president, who then requests through the PNG government to extend the invitation to observe the election. However, we haven't been receiving any response from both parties, from the ABG and the PNG government, but we are hopeful that the PNG government would respond, extend the invitation to especially the international observers. We do have interest from domestic observers, but we would very much want to have the international observers observe the elections this year.
RNZ News
15 hours ago
- Climate
- RNZ News
Tsunami advisories lifted across Pacific following magnitude 8.8 quake off Russia's coast
Cook Islands - Boats in Rarotonga being moved to deeper water on the advice of local authorities in response to Tsunami Warnings after the 8.8 magnitude quake off of Russia's Kamchatka Peninsula. 30 July 2025 Photo: RNZ Pacific/Caleb Fotheringham Most formal tsunami warnings and advisories have been lifted in the Pacific region following a magnitude 8.8 earthquake off the Russian coast. The Pacific Tsunami Warning Center says the threat of tsunami waves remains possible, but Hawai'i is the only area under a tsunami advisory. Earlier, CNN reported authorities saying tsunami waves started to hit the Marquesas Islands of French Polynesia around 10,000 kilometres away from the epicenter. Emergency authorities in the Northern Marianas cancelled the tsunami advisory for Guam and the CNMI at around 7pm Wednesday local time. Scientists at the US National Weather Service in Guam say they were fortunate the peak impacts occurred close to low tide, so wave gauges showed very small fluctuation in wave height. Parts of California and Alaska remain under tsunami advisory. Authorities say French Polynesia could be hit with waves up to four metres high, Reuters reports. They have revised their the tsunami alert for the Marquesas Islands archipelago, saying waves of up to four metres could reach the islands of Ua Huka, Nuku Hiva, and Hiva Oa overnight. A previous alert said waves of up to 2.2m could affect the islands. Earlier, the French Armed Forces in French Polynesia said they were "on alert as a precautionary measure" to assist any potential search and rescue or medical evacuation operations.
RNZ News
a day ago
- Climate
- RNZ News
Pacific on tsunami watch following powerful 8.8 quake off Russia
Cook Islands - Boats in Rarotonga being moved to deeper water on the advice of local authorities in response to Tsunami Warnings after the 8.8 magnitude quake off of Russia's Kamchatka Peninsula. 30 July 2025 Photo: RNZ Pacific/Caleb Fotheringham The Cook Islands Meteorological Service has upgraded its earlier tsunami advisory to a tsunami warning following the powerful 8.8 quake which occurred 133km south east of Petropavlovsk-Kamchatsky, off Russia. Issued at 7pm local time it says based on available information from the Pacific Tsunami Warning Centre hazardous tsunami waves of 0.3m to one metre in height are possible across the Cook Islands. This may create strong currents and surges on beaches with sea levels higher than usual. Authorities are requesting people to, remove boats and equipment from foreshore areas prior to 9pm this evening and move out of the water, off beaches and shore areas and away from harbours. Citizens are also being urged to listen to local emergency response authorities and follow any instructions. It says the first tsunami activity causing these strong currents and surges may reach the Cook Islands from approximately 10pm tonight local time. Samoa's Metoreology Office says the estimated arrival time of any possible tsunami waves to Samoa will be around 9.40pm local time. This was generated by the powerful 8.8 earthquake which occurred 133km south east of Petropavlovsk-Kamchatsky in Russia. In a tsunami advisory issued at 4:30pm, it advises the public to exercise caution around coastal areas, and stay informed through official updates. Tsunami Advisory by the Tsunami Warning Center following the 8.7 quake off Russia - Red - warning, Orange - advisory, Yellow - watch, Purple - threat. Photo: Tsunami Warning Center Tonga's Meteorological Services has issued a tsunami alert for the kingdom following the powerful 8.8 quake which occurred 133km south east of Petropavlovsk-Kamchatsky, off Russia. It said the estimated time of arrival of the initial tsunami wave to Tonga's coastline is about 9.25pm local time. The service said actual arrival times may differ and the initial wave may not be the largest. It said the public who are in the tsunami threat area are advised to prepare to evacuate. In the capital, Nuku'alofa, schools in the area close to the Tonga Broadcasting Commission (TBC) building have been evacuated to the top floor of the building. The Commission building is one of the evacuation centres in Tonga. Local media reports say there are now queues of people waiting to get into evacuation centres. Mariners out at sea are advised to prepare move to deeper water. Tonga's National emergency operation centre has been activated and remains on standby. A tsunami watch has been issued in Fiji for all low-lying coastal areas where strong currents are predicted. The Mineral Resources departments seismology section urged Fijians to remain vigilant and stay informed. An advisory says coastal areas could experience strong, unusual currents and unpredictable surges. The Pacific Tsunami Warning Center has issued a tsunami watch for Guam and the Northern Mariana Islands. The Center says the potential tsunami impact is still being evaluated (as of 11:35am NZT). It says if a threat exists, the earliest arrival for Guam, Rota, Saipan or Tinian would be 2.37pm Chamorro Standard Time (5:37pm NZT). It says a threat to American Samoa from this earthquake is still under investigation. The US Geological Survey said hazardous tsunami waves were possible within next three hours along some coasts of Russia and Japan. The Tsunami Warning centres says tsunami waves reaching more than three metres about the tide level are possible along some coasts: The tsuami waves reaching one to three meters above the tide level are possible along some coasts of Chile, Hawaii, Japan and Nothern Hawaiian islands, and Solomon Islands. An evacuation has been ordered along the coast of Oahu in Hawai'i, including parts of Honolulu following the massive earthquake. Officials say the first of a series of destructive tsunami waves is expected at 7:17pm local Hawai'i time (Hawai'i time or 5:17pm today NZT). The US Tsunami Warning Center says the danger may continue for many hours after the initial wave, and that wave heights cannot be predicted. It says tsunami waves reaching 0.3 to one metre above the tide level are possible for some coasts of: A tsunami warning has been issued for the state of Hawai'i effective at 2:43pm local time. It says a tsunami has been generated that could cause damage along coastlines of all islands in Hawai'i. Urgent action should be taken to protect lives and property. The estimated arrival time in Hawaii of the first tsunami wave is 7:17pm local time 29 July (5:17pm NZT, 30 July) The Tsuami Warning Centre says based on all available data there is a threat to Guam, Rota, Tinian and Saipan. It says sea level fluctuations and strong ocean currents that could be a hazard along beaches in harbors and in coastal waters. It says the earliest estimated time that hazardous sea level fluctuations and strong ocean currents may begin in Guam, Rota, Tiniana and Saipan is 2:37pm local time (5:27pm NZT). It says recommended actions include: An evacuation has been ordered along the coast of Oahu in Hawai'i, including parts of Honolulu. Officials say the first of a series of destructive tsunami waves is expected at 7:17pm local time. The US Tsunami Warning Centre says the danger may continue for many hours after the initial wave, and that wave heights cannot be predicted. Meanwhile, the Pacific Tsunami Warning Center says waves reaching one to three metres above tide level are possible along some coasts of Guam, Johnston Atoll, and the Northern Marianas. Waves reaching 0.3 to one metre above the tide level are possible for some coasts of Chuuk, Kosrae, Marshall Islands, Palau, Pohnpei and Yap.
