The State Emergency Service received nearly 250 calls from concerned South Coast residents last night after a large undersea earthquake prompted a tsunami alert for Australia's east coast.The 7.9 magnitude quake struck off New Zealand's South Island at 7.22pm, generating a small tsunami.However the waves were less than 20cm in height, according to the Pacific Tsunami Warning Center in Hawaii.
Tsunami warning for Port Kembla, Batemans Bay Tsunami alert after New Zealand earthquake When the earthquake struck the Australian Bureau of Meteorology (BOM) issued a warning that NSW, Tasmania and Victoria could be hit by waves.The BOM warned tsunami effects were expected at Port Kembla, Batemans Bay and Eden after 9.45pm, Sydney after 10pm and Newcastle after 10.15pm. The warning was cancelled overnight.Major evacuations in these areas were not required, however people were advised to get out of the water and move away from the immediate water's edge of harbours, coastal estuaries, rock platforms and beaches.South Coast SES deputy regional controller Dianne Gordon said the alert prompted hundreds of calls from concerned residents seeking advice."Last night most of those calls were from the Wollongong area," she said."Our advice to people was that they were not required to evacuate, but we did have some caravan parks initiate evacuations in Kiama, which is a little bit unfortunate."There were people down in Bermagui that live on their boats in the harbour and we had to make sure they got out of there."SES officers were sent to Kiama Harbour and observed water levels receding by about 40cm before surging in again, while at Port Kembla the water receded by about 20cm.Coastguards, police and fire services were all put on red alert as the danger to low-lying and coastal areas was assessed.However, warnings were later scaled back to the lesser "marine" version, with people being urged to stay out of the water and away from low-lying areas until this morning.Australian Tsunami Research Centre co-director Dale Dominey-Howes said it was only the second time the Australia Tsunami Warning System, developed after the 2004 Boxing Day tsunami, had been activated for the east coast.Civil defense officials in New Zealand said phone services were disrupted in some parts of the city of Invercargill after the earthquake, water pipes had broken and power lines had been brought down but damage appeared to be minor.One South Island resident, Simon Darby, told New Zealand's Herald newspaper the quake lasted about two-and-a-half minutes."I lived in Tokyo for three years so I know what large quakes are like. Even though we are maybe 400km from the epicentre this was easily the longest and biggest I have ever felt," he said.
