The Minister for Defence has stressed that in times of a disaster, those responsible for issuing warnings should use the information they have if they know it is from a credible source.
Ratu Epeli Ganulau was responding to concerns raised by the
Chairman of the Fiji Tsunami Working Group, Weather Office Director Rajendra Prasad on the delays from the Mineral Resources Department in issuing a tsunami warning to the general public this morning.
Prasad said his office received the first tsunami warning bulletin at 6:04am. The earthquake occurred at 5:48am near American Samoa, following which they tried to contact the Mineral Resources department, which is responsible to issue Tsunami warnings for Fiji however, they could not reach anyone to issue the warning as the Director is out of the country and the phones to the Seismologists were diverted.
The first public warning notice received by Fijivillage news from DISMAC was at 5 minutes to 8 although we managed to obtain the warning from the Pacific Tsunami Warning Centre just after 6:30am.
However Ratu Epeli said with the information they have at hand, priority should have been given to warning the public.
Earlier story:
Serious concerns have been raised on the delays from the Mineral Resources Department in issuing a tsunami warning to the general public this morning.
Chairman of the Fiji Tsunami Working Group, Weather Office Director Rajendra Prasad said his office received the first tsunami warning bulletin at 6:04am.
The earthquake occurred at 5:48am near American Samoa.
He said following that they tried to contact the Mineral Resources department, which is responsible to issue Tsunami warnings for Fiji however, they could not reach anyone to issue the warning as the Director is out of the country and the phones to the Seismologists were diverted.
The first public warning notice received by Fijivillage news from DISMAC was at 5 minutes to 8 although we managed to obtain the warning from the Pacific Tsunami Warning Centre just after 6:30am.
Prasad said they are currently in talks to shift the responsibility of issuing Tsunami warnings to his office to ensure a quick response.
Prasad stresses that they don't want to impede on the responsibility of another department but quick action is needed as peoples’ lives are at risk.
Officials of the Mineral Resource Department are currently in a meeting while senior officials from DISMAC are in a workshop in Labasa and could not be reached for comments.
Earlier today...
Fiji is not under any real threat of being hit by a tsunami although Fiji is part of the list of countries that have been issued with a tsunami warning.
We have spoken to the Pacific Tsunami Warning Centre.
A tsunami warning was issued for American Samoa, Fiji and other small Pacific islands after a major 8.3 earthquake struck in the ocean off American Samoa at 5:48 this morning.
The Pacific Tsunami Warning Center stressed that this warning does not mean a tsunami had necessarily been generated as it is procedural to issue the warning when a quake of such a magnitude is recorded.
The earthquake hit about 190 kilometers from American Samoa at a depth of 33 kilometers.
We have not received any reports of sea level changes along the coastal areas around Fiji.
We now speak to a scientist on duty at the Pacific Tsunami Warning Centre in Hawaii Barry Hirshorn.
We asked him specifically about Fiji and the tsunami warning which is in place.
Hirshorn confirmed that Fiji will not get a big tsunami.
Hirshorn confirmed that the warning that is still in place is just procedural.
He said no large wave activity is been seen for Fiji as they monitor the wave activity from the Pacific Tsunami Warning Centre in Hawaii.
Meanwhile, Hirshorn said it is a different story for Samoa and American Samoa.
Some areas in these two countries have been severely affected.
A tsunami has hit Samoa in the wake of an 8.3 magnitude earthquake this morning.
The ABC reports that houses have been flattened and cars have been swept. There are also reports that three people have been killed by the tsunami in the Upolu region.
This report from the ABC.
