Wednesday, May 17, 2006

Earthquakes rattle area during first tsunami drill

A series of earthquakes jolted the Pacific Rim region as dozens of nations staged the first test of a new tsunami warning system.

The Pacific Tsunami Warning Center conducted the drill, which arose in response to the devastating 2004 Asian tsunami.

Overall, the practice run went smoothly although Thailand reported some communication flaws in their system, and the quakes caused confusion in some areas.

Several earthquakes rocked Indonesia, New Zealand and Tonga during the test. In Tonga, the National Disaster Office was "bombarded with questions" when the tremblors struck in the middle of the exercise.

Big quake hits Tonga during Pacific-wide tsunami drill


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