Tsunami warning over Tonga earthquake cancelled

Suva (Fiji), May 4: The Pacific Tsunami Warning Center said today it had cancelled a tsunami alert over an earthquake that rocked the Tonga islands.

When it issued the warning earlier, the center said it was not known if a tsunami had been generated by the 8.1 quake but that any such wave would have hit Suva and Gisborne, New Zealand.

The center said on its Web site there was no threat to Hawaii.

Some coastal areas could still experience small sea level changes and strong and unusual currents, it said.

The center said education authorities had considered closing 14 schools in Hawaii as a precaution because all of them were in tsunami inundation zones.

REUTERS