Tsunami warning lifted

THE weather office has lifted its warning on the tsunami alert issued at 6am yesterday morning, as a result of a massive earthquake in Chile, Central America.
The National Disaster Centre acting director Martin Mose yesterday evening said the office cancelled the warning following information received from the Hawaii tsunami centre.
The National Disaster Centre in collaboration with Port Moresby Geophysical Observatory said a
magnitude 8.8 earthquake occurred in central Chile at 0634 UT (4:34pm local time PNG) on Feb 27.
They said a tsunami was generated by the earthquake, and the measurements indicated that the tsunami had maximum amplitude of about 2.3m near epicentre.
It was assessed by Port Moresby Geophysical Observatory that a “non destructive” tsunami may reach PNG on Feb 28. The tsunami was to have amplitude of less than 1m within PNG.
Mr Mose urged the public not to panic or evacuate but to take extra precaution measures.
He had urged people to refrain from going out at sea, fishing and to stay away from the coastline.
“Don’t go out into the open sea because you might not know,” Mr Mose warned.
The “danger” hours have passed with incident.
The towns that were in the line of the tsunami were Kieta, Rabaul, Port Moresby, Lae, Kavieng, Madang, Manus, Wewak and Vanimo.