(Panama Digest) The Pacific Tsunami Warning Center issued alerts for countries across the Pacific after a huge tsunami hit Japan’s northeastern coast on Friday following an 8.9 earthquake.
Latin American countries on alert include Mexico, Costa Rica, El Salvador, Chile, Ecuador, Nicaragua, Guatemala, Colombia, Panama, Honduras and Peru.
Eduardo Camacho of Panama University’s Institute of Geosciences said the waves would reach Panama in the afternoon Friday but that there is no cause for alarm as the National Civil Protection Service is monitoring the situation.
This is the biggest earthquake in Japan on record. At least 60 people had been killed in the quake and tsunami, many remain missing, and the death toll is expected to rise significantly.
Tsunami wave sweeps over northeastern Japan, March 11