Chile: Tsunami alert after Tonga volcano eruption

The Chilean National Emergency Management Agency (Onemi) has warned of the possibility of a “small tsunami” on Easter Island and other Chilean archipelagos following a volcanic eruption in the Tonga Islands.

“As a precaution, in the Juan Fernandes archipelago, the islands of San Felix, Easter Island and Chilean Antarctica are being asked by residents to leave the coastal areas where a tsunami could occur due to the eruption of a volcano in the Tonga Islands,” On said. in an announcement.

Residents of the Tongan Islands fled to areas at the highest possible altitude today, while a tsunami of nearly 1.2 meters was triggered by a new eruption – heard hundreds of kilometers away – of the Hunga Tonga Hunga Haapai volcano.

The blast lasted eight minutes and was so loud that it sounded “like a distant thunderbolt” on the Fiji Islands, more than 800 kilometers away, Fiji authorities said.

In the United States, meteorological services issued a tsunami alert on the west coast, while Hawaii was hit by floods.

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