Magnitude 7.8 Quake Strikes Near Tonga

By PESI FONUA Associated Press Writer 16 minutes ago NUKU'ALOFA, Tonga - A massive magnitude 7.8 earthquake rocked the ocean bed near the South Pacific island nation of Tonga, but U.S. officials lifted initial warnings of a possible tsunami as far away as New Zealand. No giant waves hit Tonga, and authorities in New Zealand — after initially going on high alert — said there was no danger of a damaging wave slamming into the New Zealand east coast. Sergeant James Tasmania of Gisborne police said civil defense authorities such as police had been put on "high alert," but he added that "none of the (ocean) monitoring buoys have reported anything significant." http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20060503/ap_on_re_au_an/tonga_earthquake_13