Santiago, (Chile), Mar 12: Islanders and coastal residents along Latin America's Pacific seaboard moved to higher ground Friday as a precaution against possible tsunami following the superquake that bashed northeastern Japan with huge waves.
Officials, however, reported only slightly higher waters washing ashore in Mexico's Baja California, the coasts of Honduras and Colombia, Ecuador's Galapagos Islands and Chile's Easter Island.
As the tsunami triggered off Japan washed past the Hawaiian islands early in the day with waves as high as 6 feet (almost 2 meters), Latin Americans rushed to haul boats from the sea, close ports and schools and evacuated several hundred thousand people.
Major evacuations were ordered in Ecuador and Chile, where hundreds of thousands of people moved out of low-lying coastal areas. Chile suffered a devastating tsunami after a quake a year ago, and authorities said they didn't want to take any chances.
Still, the danger seemed to wane as the day progressed and no damaging waves appeared.
Heavy swells rolled through the port and marinas of the Baja California resort of Cabo San Lucas, rocking boats at anchor, but they did not top seawalls or bring any reports of damage.
Mexican officials closed the major cargo port of Manzanillo and officials said some cargo ships and a cruise liner had decided to delay entering ports to avoid possible problems from any rough water. Classes were suspended at some low-lying schools in the resort city of Acapulco, and officials urged people to stay away from beaches.
Officials in the Central American nation of Honduras said waves along its coast were little changed from the normal three feet and they lifted the country's tsunami alert at 7 p.m.
On Chile's Easter Island, in the remote South Pacific about 2,200 miles (3,500 kilometers) west of the capital of Santiago, residents and tourists moved to high ground. Many took shelter at the island's airport, some 150 feet (45 meters) above sea level, Interior Minister Rodrigo Hinzpeter said. The island's electricity was partly shut down as a precaution.
But an offshore monitor registered only minimal effects from the tsunami Friday evening, and islanders watching the sea from higher ground could see nothing unusual, former governor Sergio Rapu said in a telephone interview from the island, where the only population center, Hanga Roa, directly faces Japan. Also exposed were several of the stunning moai head sculptures carved from volcanic rock by the islanders' Rapa Nui ancestors.
The tsunami hit Easter Island at low tide, and the slight impact was welcome news for the Chilean mainland, which expected tsunami swells about midnight (10 p.m. EST; 0300 Saturday GMT), also at near-low tides.
What remained of the tsunami by the time it hit Colombia's beaches was minor, at least in the first waves, said Luz Amanda Pulido, the national disaster response coordinator.
"The way it's behaving at this point it's not going to get higher than 50 centimeters (20 inches)," she told The Associated Press by telephone.
Some of the strongest action was taken by Ecuadorean President Rafael Correa, who declared a state of emergency and ordered people on the Galapagos Islands and the coast of the mainland to seek higher ground. He ordered schools closed and said the military would guard property.
In the Galapagos, the sea progressively grew after a series of initially low swells, and police said tsunami flooded a low-lying area of Santz Cruz Island more than a quarter-mile (500 meters) inland but without causing serious damage. There was also flooding on San Cristobal, another of the archipelago's main islands.
Ecuador's oceanographic institute said waves likely would exceed six feet (two meters) along the mainland coast. The waves were traveling at about 300 miles an hour (between 400-500 kilometers per hour), the institute said.
Correa said earlier that the 242,000 people who were evacuated from low-lying areas, most of them on the mainland, would be kept on higher ground until officials determined it was safe..
About 15,000 people live in the Galapagos, a UNESCO protected natural heritage site popular with tourists about 600 miles (1,000 kilometers) off Ecuador's coast.
Ecuador suspended oil exports and halted operations at its La Libertad refinery near the ocean, though its main refinery continued to function.
Chilean officials ordered all mainland coastal areas subject to flooding evacuated as a precaution, and hundreds of thousands of people moved to safer ground. Television showed empty streets in Valparaiso and other cities being patrolled by soldiers to guard against looters and ensure residents stayed away.
The interior minister, Hinzpeter, said the government wanted to be prudent after last year's terrible tsunami, and he stressed that no one would be allowed home until experts declared the danger past.
After the magnitude-8.8 earthquake a year ago, Chile's navy and emergency preparedness office mistakenly told people there was no danger and many of the 524 people killed were caught in massive waves set off by the quake.
Earlier Friday, President Sebastian Pinera called on Chileans to remain calm and assured them the government was prepared.
"We now have a much better system," Pinera said during a visit to the emergency system's headquarters. "A year ago I was here and I saw what all Chileans saw, a real chaos. There was no information, no coordination, and that led to us losing many lives."
In Peru, the Ministry of Education closed schools for thousands of children in coastal areas, where 55 percent of the country's 28 million people live. Authorities also closed beaches popular with tourists, including Lima's "Costa Verde," ordering seaside businesses shuttered. Dozens evacuated their homes in flood-prone areas of Callao, the port adjacent to Lima.
No serious damage was reported when the tsunami arrived just before 8 p.m. Luis Palomino, chief of Peru's Civil Defense Institute, said an initial surge measured 10 inches (25 centimeters) at the port of La Cruz in the north, and a second 45 minutes later reached 3½ feet (just over 1 meter). It was 12-16 inches (30-40 centimeters) at Callao.
Dozens of spectators gathered on the cliffs of Lima's Miraflores district to watch but the rise in water proved almost imperceptible.
All of Peru's ports were shut until "maritime reports indicate normality along Peru's coast," port authority director Frank Boyle said. AP
