Minnesotans in Pacific in midst of quake, tsnunami

Minnesotans in Japan are relating their experiences with Friday's powerful earthquake and resulting tsunami.

Bob Collins has collected videos and links to other coverage of the earthquake and tsunami on the News Cut blog.

So far, no casualties have been reported among state residents who are visiting or transplanted to Japan. The Walker Art Center in Minneapolis has a group touring that country, but Marketing Director Ryan French says everyone is accounted for.

"Everyone is doing OK, and they were a ways away from the activity over there," French said.

French says the Walker group was in Tokyo at the time of the quake. He says about two dozen staff and donors are looking at museums and visiting cultural sites.

The tsunami hit Hawaii early Friday, and chased Minnesotans wintering on the islands to higher ground. Former State Revenue Commissioner John James, who served under former Gov. Rudy Perpich, started hearing tsunami sirens at 10 p.m. Thursday. On Kawaii, he said he went about a mile inland.

James said Hawaii authorities practiced tsunami evacuations when a small one struck the state last year.

"You get a surge that comes in and then it pulls way back to the lowest of low tides imaginable, and then it slams in again," he said.

James said a tsunami can have lasting effects in Hawaii, because the high surf bounces back and forth between the islands.