by Staff Writers
Washington (AFP) Oct 28, 2012
A potentially destructive Pacific tsunami hit Hawaii Sunday after a powerful earthquake struck off the west coast of Canada, triggering calls for urgent action to protect lives as sirens wailed across the archipelago.
"The tsunami is arriving right now," Gerard Fryer, a senior geophysicist with the center, told reporters. "It is coming in as we speak."
Countless Halloween parties were interrupted, restaurants and bars emptied, and highways quickly filled with cars heading away from beach areas.
Television images from the island of Oahu showed relatively small waves peacefully rolling toward shore.
But Fryer urged Hawaii residents not to deceived by appearances.
"Typically, the first wave is not the largest," he said, adding that subsequent waves could be much larger, resulting in flooding in low-lying areas.
"If the waves are big, the all-clear may take six or seven hours," the scientist said.
Initially, the…