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Hawaii dodges tsunami after Chile quake


    HONOLULU (Reuters) - Hawaii dodged serious damage on Saturday when a tsunami triggered by a powerful earthquake in Chile merely lapped ashore, although residents were warned to stay away from coastal areas because the ocean could remain unsettled for several more hours.

    The Pacific Tsunami Warning Centre said it lifted its warning for the U.S. state, but added that coastal areas could still experience sea level changes or strong currents for several more hours.

    As the tsunami headed towards the state in the early morning hours, Hawaii sounded warning sirens and began evacuating residents near the coastline. The Warning Centre had said a tsunami could cause waves of up to 8 feet (2.4 meters).

    Civil defence officials sent fire-fighters and fire trucks into neighbourhoods bordering the Hawaii coast, and used loud speakers to urge residents to evacuate.

    Gas stations in Honolulu were jammed with lines of cars stretching a quarter of a mile (400 metres) in some places as residents waited to fill gas tanks before evacuating.

    When the tsunami reached Hawaii, the ocean water changed colour and receded in Hilo and Honolulu. But initial wave surges measuring roughly 3 feet (1 metre) -- nothing for an archipelago where champion surfers ride waves 20 feet (6.5 meters) high -- were not threatening.

    Before the warning was lifted, Civil Defence Administrator Quince Mento said that while there was a lot of activity in the ocean, it had not produced anything destructive.

    The centre had issued a Pacific-wide tsunami warning that included Hawaii and stretched across the ocean from South America to the Pacific Rim.

    The warning follows a huge earthquake in Chile that killed at least 214 people and triggered tsunamis up and down the coast of the earthquake-prone country.

    The last time a destructive tsunami struck Hawaii was in 1960, when much of downtown Hilo was destroyed in the aftermath of a 9.5 magnitude Chilean earthquake.

    Since then, tsunamis have largely been a no-show. The last time civil defence officials ordered evacuations was in 1994.

    The West Coast and Alaska Tsunami Warning Centre said a tsunami advisory is in effect for the coastal areas of California, Oregon, Washington, British Columbia and Alaska from the California-Mexico border to Attu, Alaska.

    (Reporting by Mike Gordon, Suzanne Gordon and Ikaika Hussey in Hawaii, and Phil Stewart and Doina Chiacu in Washington; writing by Peter Henderson and Nicole Maestri, editing by Vicki Allen and Philip Barbara)