A 7.8-magnitude earthquake that rocked Tonga Thursday triggered evacuations in New Zealand after tsunami warnings were briefly issued for the South Pacific. The warnings were the latest in a series of scares since the Asian tsunami catastrophe that killed 220,000 people in December 2004. Here is a chronology of the main alerts.
2004
Dec 30: Panic grips coastal communities in southern India as aftershocks from the massive December 26 temblor off Indonesia are felt and send people fleeing for higher ground.
2005
Jan 19: An earthquake measuring 6.8 in the Pacific Ocean triggers a tsunami warning in Japan, but the agency records waves of just 30 centimeters (12 inches) high on the Izu island chain, south of Tokyo.
March 20: A 7.0-magnitude quake rocks the southern Japanese island of Kyushu, triggering tsunami warnings that are lifted one hour later.
March 29: Jittery residents along Indian Ocean coastlines scramble for safety after another massive earthquake off Indonesia's Sumatra sparks fears of new killer waves. Japan sends tsunami warnings to India, Indonesia, Malaysia, Maldives, Sri Lanka and Thailand.
July 25: A powerful earthquake with a magnitude of 7.0 strikes India's remote Nicobar Islands, prompting tsunami warnings to be issued from Indonesia to Thailand, where thousands of people are evacuated in six provinces.
Aug 16: Japan lifts a tsunami warning after small waves hit its Pacific coast following a powerful earthquake north of Tokyo.
Nov 15: Thousands of people flee their coastal homes as small tsunami waves up to 50 centimetres (20 inches) high hit the Pacific coast following an earthquake measuring 6.9 that shakes northern Japan.
Dec 12: Papua New Guinea, where more than 2,000 people were killed in a tsunami in July 1998, braces for possible waves after a 6.8-magnitude temblor strikes off the Eastern coast, but no damage is reported.
2006
