The first waves touched on Tuesday, July 30, the Marquesas Archipelago on Tuesday, July 30 in French Polynesia, but the alert was raised by the authorities, several hours after the powerful earthquake in the Pacific against Russia.
“A tsunami arrives at French Polynesia. All state services are mobilized to protect our fellow citizens. I ask for surveillance: follow the instructions of local authorities. All my support for Marquesans and all our compatriots in the Pacific,” he reacted in X Emmanuel Macron.
Several waves of a height of 1.5 meters began playing the island of Nuku Hiva (3,000 inhabitants) between two hours and five hours of local time, in the Marquesas archipelago, said the High Commissioner of Polynesia during his last point of information.
An “oscillating attenuation”
From these first impacts of the Olaano Ola, the Geophysical Laboratory (LDG) to the Marquisas observes an “oscillation attenuation”, which justifies “the lifting of the alert on earth,” said the high commissioner in a press release.
“The population can recover their usual place of life, while avoiding the coasts, as well as rivers and valleys, and showing caution,” said the state representative in the archipelago, which nevertheless maintains the prohibition of nautical activities in the marques.
The residents of the threatened areas had been warned above and had been able to evacuate their homes.
Previously, the high commission had predicted waves that could measure up to 4 meters, before reviewing its estimates with a wave that oscillates between “1.10 m” and “2.50 m” for Ua Huka, Hiva OA and Nuku Hiva.
Tsunami alerts throughout the Pacific
In the next few hours, said the high commissioner, a second blade must bring “lower height” waves, estimated at “50 cm”.
The earthquake of magnitude 8.8 took place on Tuesday around 11:24 pm GMT approximately 126 km from Petropavlovsk-Kamchatski, capital of the Kamthatka region, in eastern Russia, according to the American Geophysical Institute (USGS).
It caused Tsunami alerts throughout the Pacific and evacuations in Japan or Hawaii.
For the Marquesas, the threatened population was “security in places of predetermined retirement in advance” to “spend the night out of the shelter,” said Xavier Marotel, general secretary of the High Commission, during a press conference.
“There had already been a similar wave in 2015 without human damage and there was an identical exercise, they are regular, in the Marquesas Islands six weeks ago, so the population is prepared,” said BFMTV, Manuel Valls’s minister abroad in BFMTV.
“Our armed forces in French Polynesia are on alert as a preventive basis, in order to help our fellow citizens and state services in possible research and health or health evacuations,” the Minister of the Armed Forces Sébastien Lecornu reacted to X.
Source: BFM TV
