AUSTRALIA has issued a tsunami warning from Queensland to Tasmania, warning of possible "dangerous waves, strong ocean currents and foreshore flooding.''
"Do not go to the coast to watch the tsunami,'' the Bureau of Meteorology's alert said.
"Check that your neighbours have received this advice. Boats in close should return quickly if possible. Boats in deep water should stay offshore until further advised.''
But no evaculations near the Australian coast have been ordered.
However other nations around the Asia-Pacific region evacuated coastal areas and warned residents as the tsunami generated by a devastating Chile earthquake approached their shores.
Already, the impact of the tsunami has been felt as close as the Chatham Islands east of New Zealand, where the waves were progressively larger.
Officials warned residents to be vigilant. New Zealand Civil Defense Minister John Carter said the latest sea surge at the Chatham Islands was 1.5 meters, the fourth and biggest surge measured there in the past two hours.
The islands are some 500 kilometers east of New Zealand.
Asia-Pacific nations evacuated coasts ahead of the tsunami generated by a devastating earthquake in Chile.
In Samoa, where 183 people died in a tsunami in September, police said most people were moved out of low-lying areas. A degree of panic was evident as people were leaving the coastal areas where the earlier tsunami hit. Broadcasts and text messages alerted people in the early morning.
In Fiji, people in coastal towns and villages have been evacuated. Police and emergency services are on alert for waves of between 0.6 - 2.3 meters on the northern and eastern islands of the archipelago.
Disaster management office duty officer Anthony Blake said coastal evacuations had taken place on Vanua Levu, Fiji's second biggest island, and in the Lau and Lomaiviti island groups.
About a third of Fiji's 800,000 people live in those areas, Blake said.
Cook Islands police issued an all-clear mid-morning Sunday after the tsunami caused a minor tidal surge of a few centimeters.
