Oregon Public Broadcasting

A powerful earthquake that shook the southern part of New Zealand Wednesday generated only a small increase in wave energy in the Pacific Northwest.

But Northwest emergency management officials say it was a good test for the region's tsunami warning system. Correspondent Doug Nadvornick reports.

Within minutes of the New Zealand quake, the West Coast Tsunami Warning Center in Alaska put out a statement to U.S. coastal states.

Rob Harper from Washington's Emergency Management Division says it told them they would feel no huge ripple effect.

Rob Harper: “The system is functioning. It's on alert and provides real-time credible information.”

A few dozen buoys stationed in the Pacific Ocean measure wave changes caused by seismic activity.

An official at the Tsunami Center says the buoys worked well in this case. But Althea Turner of the Oregon Department of Emergency Management says, had the earthquake been closer to the U.S. coast, the monitors wouldn't have helped.

Althea Turner: “There simply isn't enough time to register the seismograph, find out big it is and wait the half-hour to an hour for the tsunami to actually pass a buoy.”

Instead, Turner and Harper say, their states warn coastal residents if they feel the earth shake, it's time to head to higher ground.