Tsunami may hit 19 PH provinces—disaster officials

By Katherine Evangelista, Karen Boncocan
INQUIRER.net
First Posted 14:25:00 03/11/2011

Filed Under: Earthquake
MANILA, Philippines – (UPDATE 3) At least 19 provinces may be affected by the tsunami that is expected to hit the Philippines in a few hours following an 8.9-magnitude earthquake that struck Japan, disaster officials said.

The Philippine Institute of Volcanology and the National Disaster Risk Reduction and Management Council (NDRRMC) identified these provinces fronting the Pacific Ocean as:

• Batanes Group of Islands
• Cagayan
• Ilocos Norte
• Isabela
• Quezon
• Aurora
• Camarines Norte
• Camarines Sur
• Albay
• Catanduanes
• Sorsogon
• Northern Samar
• Eastern Samar
• Leyte
• Southern Leyte
• Surigao del Norte
• Surigao del Sur
• Davao Oriental
• Davao del Sur

But at the same time, Phivolcs chief Renato Solidum said no evacuation order has been issued yet but warned those “living along the entire length of the country’s east coast to be on alert and await further instructions.”

The entire eastern seaboard of the Philippines, from Batanes to the Davao region, are under Alert Level 1, Solidum said in a nationwide broadcast.

A tsunami warning was also issued for Japan, Russia and the Mariana Islands after an 8.9-magnitude quake struck off Japan, the Pacific Tsunami Warning Center said.
“An earthquake of this size has the potential to generate a destructive tsunami that can strike coastlines near the epicentre within minutes and more distant coastlines within hours,” the centre said in a statement.

It also put the territories of Guam, Taiwan, the Marshall Islands, Indonesia, Papua New Guinea, Nauru, Micronesia and Hawaii under a lower tsunami watch.
With a report from Kristine Alave, Philippine Daily Inquirer