Newsstand - News alert- Tsunami warning for Australian east coast & Lord Howe Island

I've never seen a tsunami alert on TV but we just had one.
Seemingly in a few minutes.

Here's a summary of the news (http://news.google.com.au/news/story?q=tsunami&oe=utf-8&rls=org.mozilla:en-US:official&client=firefox-a&um=1&ie=UTF-8&ncl=d2vEMqseHxzvW5M&hl=en&ei=Y75dSu_LAaXu6gOn0eX_DQ&sa=X&oi=news_result&ct=more-results&resnum=1), just in:
Australian east coast on tsunami alert‎ (http://www.news.com.au/heraldsun/story/0,21985,25787970-5005961,00.html)[news.com.au]
THE east coast of Australia has been put on tsunami alert following a powerful undersea earthquake

The Australian Bureau of Meteorology says Tasmania, Victoria and NSW could be hit by waves tonight following the quake off the southwest coast of New Zealand's South Island at 7.22pm (AEST).

A bureau spokeswoman stressed no tsunami waves had been recorded by 8pm (AEST).

But she added it remained a possibility waves could develop and hit Australia's coast.

"It's quite rare that this would happen. At the moment no waves have been recorded but an alert has been issued for NSW and large parts of the east coast," she said.

"We're continuing to monitor and update the situation."

The Bureau of Meteorology (BOM) said any waves would strike Lord Howe Island between 9.30pm and midnight.

From the latest news, a tsunami was caused, but it was minor--deep sea levels only jumped 6 inches, and likely any tsunami waves that hit shore were indistinguishable from normal waves.

Glad you're all right!

I got an email from the WCATWC (West Coast Alaska Tsunami Warning Center) about the magnitude 7.8 quake with a note that no tsunamis were expected between Alaska and California. :)

Interestingly the beach I can see from my house will probably be in worse condition tomorrow than it was when the "tsunami" hit. I survived the 2009 Australian Tsunami, I was surprised how few people knew about the warning, if there was an ACTUAL problem we'd all be stuffed, although hopefully they'd be more serious about warning us.

There was a brief tsunami warning here in Maui earlier today, based on that earthquake. The local beach folks tell me it was the cause of this morning's slightly rougher surf.

Hawaii tsunami warning. (http://www.prh.noaa.gov/ptwc/messages/hawaii/2009/hawaii.2009.07.15.103426.txt)