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Source: ONE News -
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Island nations in the Pacific have been on tsunami alert, with the King of Tonga opening the gates to the grounds of his royal home to let people shelter there.
The tsunami warning was put in place for the Pacific region following the magnitude 8.8 earthquake that hit Chile on Saturday evening.
King Siaosi Tupou V, in an unusual move, opened the gates of his royal home outside Nuku'alofa, which is one of the highest points in the island kingdom.
The tsunami was expected to arrive in Nukualofa at about 8:40am NZ time.
Meanwhile, in the Cook Islands, police woke up locals and tourists in the early morning to move them to higher ground.
The tsunami was expected to arrive at Rarotonga at 7:42am and there were reports of an approximately 30-cm rise in sea level. The islands all escaped relatively unscathed.
RNZAF sqaudran leader Kavae Tamariki, who has been stationed in the Cook Islands as part of a relief effort following Cyclone Pat just over two weeks ago, says the air force pitched in with tsunami reconnaissance.
"We had a Hercules which we launched this morning at 7:30am. That aircraft stayed in the air for a couple of hours just to keep a visual watch on what they can see along the coastline," he says.
The Cook Islands has since called off its alert.
In Samoa, people were evacuated and the township of Apia was closed off.
In French Polynesia , waves of around 36 centimetres arrived at Tahiti at 6:50am NZT.
