Tsunami hits Pacific regions

SENDAI, Japan, (Reuters) Tsunami waves of up to 1.5 metres hit far-flung Pacific regions from the Russian far east and Japan to New Zealands Chatham Islands on Sunday after a powerful earthquake struck Chile, but there were no reports of injuries or serious damage.
Hundreds of thousands of residents in Japan, New Zealand, the Philippines and Russias Kamchatka were told to evacuate after one of the worlds strongest quakes in a century hit Chile on Saturday, killing more than 400 people.
Japanese officials had warned that tsunami waves of 3 metres or more could strike the countrys Pacific coast and ordered or advised around 630,000 households to evacuate. I feel the power of nature. The tsunami is coming from thousands of kilometres away, said Akio Yone, a 70-year-old retired fisherman, as he watched from high ground on a chilly, windy evening on the outskirts of Sendai, northern Japan.
The Japan Meteorological Agency (JMA) put the countrys highest tsunami at 1.2 metres in the port of Kuji, northeast Japan. Smaller waves hit a swathe of the country from the small island of Minamitori 1,950km south of Tokyo to Hokkaido island in the north.
The JMA later downgraded its warning of a major tsunami to a tsunami of around 2 metres, but said residents should not let down their guard. Carelessness could be the biggest enemy, Prime Minister Yukio Hatoyama told reporters earlier in the day.
It was Japans first major tsunami warning in 17 years and only the fourth since 1952, the JMA said.
Train services were halted in many areas along the Pacific coast, many highways were closed and there was minor flooding. Two nuclear plants in the area were operating normally and Japans Nippon Oil Corp said its 145,000 barrel-per-day Sendai refinery was also functioning as usual.
The first waves to hit New Zealand were reported at the remote Chatham Islands, around 800 kilometres (500 miles) east of New Zealand, with surges of up to 1.5 metres measured, the Civil Defence Ministry said.
A resident on one of the smaller islands in the group, Pitt, said the surges were continuing and getting bigger.
Authorities in Russias far eastern Kamchatka region lifted a tsunami alert after a series of small waves appeared to cause no damage, a spokeswoman for the Emergencies Ministry said.
A tsunami hit beaches in eastern Australia but there were no initial reports of damage. Officials issued an alert for most of the east coast and eastern parts of the island state of Tasmania, but said there were no concerns about major inundation.
The Philippines cancelled a tsunami alert on the eastern seaboard after the threat dissipated.
Hawaii dodged serious damage on Saturday when a tsunami merely lapped ashore, although residents were warned to stay away from coastal areas because the ocean could remain unsettled for several more hours.