New Zealand authorities Friday lifted warnings that led to evacuations early Friday of coastal towns in North Island after three large earthquakes - capped by a monster 8.1 magnitude shake - triggered tsunami alerts.
Thousands of residents along the Bay of Plenty in the eastern part of North Island fled to higher ground after receiving the tsunami threat warning covering most of the Northland, Bay of Plenty, east coast and upper west coast areas.
Following the first of the three earthquakes, automated warnings sent to mobile and landlines and social media accounts at approximately 2 a.m. Friday New Zealand time (1 p.m. Thursday GMT) told people to prepare to head to higher ground, according to Business Times sources in the country.
"It was pretty scary," a resident of a beachside community about an hour north of the country's biggest city, Auckland, told Business Times Friday. "It's all good now, but we have been told to be alert for more earthquakes," she said
Residents in the areas covered by land and marine threat warnings were later told to immediately head for higher ground after the magnitude 8.1 earthquake struck off the Kermadec Islands, 1,000 kilometers northeast of New Zealand, at 8:28 a.m. New Zealand time Friday. The tsunami warnings also cover much of the Pacific.
Local governments in North Island reported traffic gridlock in cities such as Whangarei in the far north and on roads around the affected regions.
"People...must move immediately to the nearest high ground, out of all tsunami evacuation zones, or as far inland as possible," said an alert from the National Emergency Management Agency.
The epicenter of the largest earthquake was south of Raoul Island in the Kermadecs. This was preceded by a magnitude 7.4 earthquake and followed by a magnitude 6.1 aftershock. The Kermadecs are between 800 kilometers to 1,000 kilometers northeast of North Island and are part of New Zealand.
The magnitude 8.1 earthquake is the largest in the world so far this year.
The magnitude 7.4 foreshock struck about 900 kilometers to the east of North Island and was felt by some 60,000 people.
The Bay of Plenty Civil Defense unit tweeted: "!!!!! Evacuation warning!!!!! TSUNAMI WARNING issued following the Kermadecs earthquake. People near the coast from the BAY OF ISLANDS to WHANGAREI, from MATATA to TOLAGA BAY, and GREAT BARRIER ISLAND must MOVE IMMEDIATELY to the nearest high ground as far inland as possible."
