SANTIAGO, March 16 (Xinhua) -- The Chilean justice authorities will investigate why a tsunami warning was too early canceled in the wake of a massive quake while the tsunami later caused a significant loss of life and property, the Supreme Court said Tuesday.
The Navy Oceanography Service (SHOA) and the emergency management agency had issued a tsunami warning after an 8.8-magnitude quake hit Chile on Feb. 27. However, the warning was canceled one hour later, and the tsunami that followed badly hit the coastal villages and left hundreds of people killed or missing.
"The fact that the warnings were not issued in an adequate manner justifies an inquiry," national prosecutor Sabas Chahuan said Tuesday. "I'm preparing the opening of an inquiry."
He added he expected the investigation to get underway immediately.
SHOA chief Mariano Rojas was fired from his post less than a week after the quake, while the head of Chile's emergency management agency, Carmen Fernandez, resigned on March 10.
Fernandez said ahead of her resignation that the agency had a breakdown in communications and became "blind and speechless."
