Governments in the region prepared to evacuate many coastal areas, and extra precautions were being taken in outlying islands with a massive tsunami expected from the monster 8.9 magnitude quake in Japan.

Chilean authorities said residents of Easter Island, a tourist attraction some 3,500 kilometers (2,200 miles) from the mainland, were leaving coastal areas for higher elevations and that officials were studying a possible evacuation.

Ecuador's state oil company Petroecuador said it had suspended crude oil exports due to risks posed by a Pacific-wide tsunami unleashed by a massive earthquake in Japan.

Ecuadoran President Rafael Correa declared a state of emergency in response to a tsunami that was forecast to strike the Pacific coast, while residents in the Galapagos islands some 1,000 kilometers (620 miles) west of the mainland were evacuating low-lying areas.

Waves up to 70 centimeters (2.2 feet) high arrived on Mexico's coastal areas of Baja California, and subsequent waves could be as high as two meters (6.5 feet), the Scientific Research Center in the town of Ensenada said.

Tourists in the seaside resorts of Los Cabos and Acapulco were told to remain in their hotels far from the beaches.

The government "expressed its concern for the consequences of the quakes" and offered aid to Japan. Mexico has long experience with deadly earthquakes.

Just to the south, Guatemalan President Alvaro Colom ordered school classes suspended in three coastal provinces in his country and urged residents to "get to high ground." Boats should not leave harbor, he said.

El Salvador, Nicaragua and Costa Rica all issued tsunami alerts, with El Salvador saying it expected to see the effects around 2200 GMT.

Nicaragua said some 100,000 people along their coastline were potentially at risk, and expected the tsunami wave to arrive around 2230 GMT.

In Panama, geoscientist Eduardo Camacho said authorities were "maintaining vigilance" but did not expect any serious problems: "The waves are not expected to exceed 20 centimeters (eight inches) in height."

In nearby Colombia, authorities were sanguine, saying they were "monitoring" waves they expected to be 12 to 70 centimeters (20 to 28 inches) high when they arrived around 7:00 pm (0000 GMT Saturday).

Nevertheless, a representative of the Disaster Prevention Unit, Luz Amanda Pulido, told AFP people were barred from swimming or fishing on the Pacific coast.

Colombian President Juan Manuel Santos sent a Twitter message offering condolences over the disaster in Japan.

Peru's tsunami alert warning said the first wave should reach its coast between 6:00 and 8:00 pm local time (0000 to 0200 GMT Saturday). Its bulletin was one level below a tsunami "alarm."

Chile ordered an evacuation of coastal zones at risk from the tsunami, Interior Minister Rodrigo Hinzpeter said.

Hinzpeter said this was a "preventive" move ahead of waves expected to reach two to three meters (6.5 to 10 feet) along Chile's 4,000-kilometer (2,500-mile) coast due to a risk from the tsunami.

With Chileans still jittery after the 8.8 magnitude earthquake that struck the country in February 2010, President Sebastian Pinera had earlier issued a "preventive alert," but told citizens to remain calm and continue normal life.

Most of the 524 people who died in the 2010 Chile quake were killed by the massive tsunami waves that swept away some coastal hamlets.

The tsunami was expected to reach Chile's Easter Islands around 2255 GMT.

The island's 4,000 residents were to begin moving to higher ground at midday (1700 GMT), according to Chilean naval commander Claudio Montenegro.

Cristian Ramirez, the police chief on the island, told reporters that police and fire service vehicles were driving around using loudspeakers to urge evacuations.

The plan called for residents to get to the island's airport, located 45 meters (150 feet) above sea level.

Elsewhere in the region, condolences to Japan were offered after the quake that killed hundreds of people, from countries not exposed to the Pacific tsunami, including Brazil, Argentina, Uruguay and Bolivia.

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