STRONG AFTERSHOCKS RATTLED TONGA ON FRIDAY, THE DAY AFTER A MASSIVE EARTHQUAKE DAMAGED BUILDINGS AND TRIGGERED TSUNAMI WARNINGS FROM HAWAII TO NEW ZEALAND. NO DAMAGE OR INJURIES WERE REPORTED FROM THE LATEST QUAKES _ WITH MAGNITUDES OF 6.0, 5.7, 5.4 AND 5.8 _ TO HIT THE SOUTH PACIFIC NATION _ ALTHOUGH THE 5.8 QUAKE LATE FRIDAY AFTERNOON SHOOK BUILDINGS IN THE CAPITAL, NUKU-ALOFA _ AND NO TSUNAMI WARNING WAS ISSUED. BUT THEY CAME AS AUTHORITIES FROM OUTLYING ISLANDS BEGAN REPORTING DAMAGE FROM THE 7.8 MAGNITUDE TREMOR THAT STRUCK IN THE EARLY HOURS OF THURSDAY. IT IS COMMON FOR BIG QUAKES TO BE FOLLOWED BY NUMEROUS SMALLER AFTERSHOCKS. A HOSPITAL AND SEVERAL OTHER BUILDINGS IN TONGA'S HA'APAI ISLAND GROUP WERE BADLY DAMAGED, OFFICIALS SAID. SEVERE CRACKS IN THE MAIN WALLS OF NUI'UI HOSPITAL COULD MEAN ITS PATIENTS WILL HAVE TO BE MOVED OUT, HA'APAI GOVERNOR MALU PO SAID. «THE CRACKS ARE PRETTY SERIOUS _ ALL OVER THE BUILDING,» PO TOLD THE ASSOCIATED PRESS. «THEY ARE STILL DECIDING WHETHER IT'S SAFE TO CONTINUE USING THE HOSPITAL,» HE SAID, ADDING HIS FIRST IMPRESSION OF THE DAMAGE WAS «THERE'S NO WAY THEY CAN CONTINUE USING IT.» THURSDAY'S MAJOR QUAKE PROMPTED A REGIONAL WARNING CENTER IN HAWAII TO ISSUE A TSUNAMI ALERT, BUT AN OFFICIAL SAID FRIDAY THAT TONGA WAS INADVERTENTLY LEFT OFF THE LIST _ ALONG WITH THREE OTHER PACIFIC NATIONS _ OF COUNTRIES TO WARN ABOUT THE POSSIBILITY OF A KILLER WAVE BEARING DOWN ON THEM. OFFICIALS HAD EARLIER SAID TONGA, WHICH WAS CLOSEST TO THE EPICENTER, APPARENTLY DID NOT RECEIVE A TSUNAMI ALERT BECAUSE OF A POWER FAILURE. BUT GERARD FRYER, THE CENTER'S ACTING DIRECTOR, TOLD THE ASSOCIATED PRESS THAT THE FIVE NATIONS WERE NOT GIVEN TSUNAMI «WARNING» OR «WATCH» STATUS ON THE INITIAL ALERT. FIJI AND NEW ZEALAND WERE ALERTED. HE SAID A GLITCH IN THE CENTER'S COMPUTER DATABASE CAUSED THE PROBLEM, AND A STAFFER FAILED TO CATCH THE OMISSION IN A RUSH TO GET OUT THE ALERTS. A SECOND BULLETIN ISSUED 49 MINUTES AFTER THE FIRST ALERT, CORRECTLY INCLUDED TONGA, NIUE, AMERICAN SAMOA, SAMOA, AND WALLIS-FUTUNA AS COUNTRIES ALSO UNDER THE TSUNAMI WARNING, HE SAID. BY THEN, IT WOULD HAVE BEEN TOO LATE IF A DESTRUCTIVE TSUNAMI MATERIALIZED _ IT WOULD HAVE ALREADY HIT TONGA, NIUE AND AMERICAN SAMOA. THE HONOLULU-BASED PACIFIC TSUNAMI WARNING CENTER LIFTED THE ALERT WITHIN TWO HOURS, AFTER A WAVE OF LESS THAN 60 CENTIMETERS (2 FEET) WAS RECORDED. THE EMERGENCY SYSTEM FAILINGS EXPOSED ALARMING CRACKS IN A TSUNAMI WARNING SYSTEM INTENDED TO PREVENT ANOTHER DISASTER LIKE THE ONE THAT STRUCK IN THE INDIAN OCEAN IN 2004. PO, NOTING THAT THE HA'APAI ISLANDS' GROUP WAS NEAREST TO THE QUAKE'S EPICENTER, SAID THE WHARF AT PANGAI, HA'APAI'S MAIN TOWN, HAD BEEN DAMAGED _ AS HAD THE ROAD RIGHT OUTSIDE HIS OFFICE. THE HA'APAI GROUP IS ABOUT 150 KILOMETERS (90 MILES) NORTH OF THE CAPITAL, NUKU'ALOFA, WHILE TONGA IS A 170-ISLAND ARCHIPELAGO HALFWAY BETWEEN AUSTRALIA AND TAHITI. A CHURCH STEEPLE AT HIHIFO VILLAGE ON THE OUTSKIRTS OF PANGAI HAD BEEN TOSSED INTO THE ROAD IN THE QUAKE, HE SAID, WHILE FIVE CHURCH BUILDINGS AND OTHER BUILDINGS ON THE NEARBY ISLAND OF UIHA, HOME TO ABOUT 200 PEOPLE, HAD ALSO BEEN DAMAGED. NEW ZEALAND'S HIGH COMMISSIONER IN THE CAPITAL, MICHAEL MCBRIDE, SAID THURSDAY'S QUAKE HAD BEEN «A VERY SCARY EXPERIENCE» WITH «A LOT OF OUR OFFICIAL CHINA» FALLING FROM CUPBOARDS TO SMASH ON TILED FLOORING. NEW ZEALAND WOULD LOOK «SYMPATHETICALLY» AT AID REQUESTS «TO HELP FIX DEFECTIVE SYSTEMS» EXPOSED BY THE QUAKE, HE SAID.
