No Damage Reported in Galapagos after Tsunami Alert
Residents evacuated to higher ground. Some big waves, but no damage. Tsunami alert lifted.
QUITO (Reuters) - Residents and tourists on Ecuador’s Galapagos islands moved to high ground on Saturday after a massive earthquake in Chile generated tsunami warnings along South America’s Pacific coast.
Witnesses on the islands said that waves in the area were unusually strong, but the government of Ecuador lifted a tsunami warning that had been issued for the Galapagos.
“As a preventive measure, there has been an evacuation (of people to high ground),” Edwin Pinto, an official at Ecuador’s Oceanographic Institute, told reporters.
The evacuees were expected to remain away from low areas of the islands through Saturday afternoon, officials said.