CRESCENT CITY -- Coastal dwellers in far northern California and southern Oregon knew to take it seriously when tsunami sirens sounded after a 7.2-magnitude offshore earthquake, and thousands of people were safely evacuated within minutes.

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Many here still remember the 1964 tsunami that killed 15 people along this stretch of the Pacific Coast.

And while there were no destructive waves after Tuesday night's temblor, experts Wednesday praised the decision to announce a tsunami warning for the entire West Coast — better safe than sorry, they said.

Emergency managers in coastal communities in California, Oregon and Washington also praised the tsunami warning. More than any planned drill ever could, it gave them a chance to test out their systems, and see what needs fixing should true disaster strike, they said.

The quake actually did generate a tsunami — of 1 centimeter, roughly the width of an adult finger. It wasn't detected by any equipment on shore, but registered on an ocean pressure-measuring buoy located about 350 miles off the coast of California.

"This was the perfect tsunami — it was small and it tested the system," said Costas Synolakis, director of the Tsunami Research Center at the University of Southern California. "Now, people know how quickly they need to respond."

Officials in Oregon were glad the warning was issued so quickly, particularly given the devastation from a tsunami triggered by a quake near Sumatra on Dec. 26. The waves killed more than 176,000 people in 11 countries.

"Along the Pacific Coast in that area, a tsunami could make landfall in 20 minutes; if (tsunami forecasters) wait for validation from seismological community, that could take 15 minutes or longer," said Jay Wilson, the Earthquake and Tsunami Program Coordinator in Oregon's Office of Emergency Management. "Based on everything that we saw in the Indian Ocean, it is critical to get the message out to people."

In Crescent City, there were several reported car accidents as people jammed the roads, trying to make their way out of town, said resident Calvin Maready. Others went to the beach, to wait for the waves. "I don't know what was going through their heads," he said.

Six minutes after the quake struck at 7:50 p.m. about 90 miles southwest of Crescent City, the West Coast & Alaska Tsunami Warning Center issued the first warning, for the West Coast from Mexico to Canada. A tsunami watch was issued for parts of southeast Alaska.

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The warning for the West Coast — not a watch or an advisory — was issued because policies dictate such action for quakes greater than a magnitude 7 located so near the coast, said Greg Romano, a National Weather Service spokesman.

"Minutes count in these situations, particularly for those on the coast closest to the tsunami," Romano said. "The need to get the word out, even without knowing specifically whether a tsunami will be created, is important and that's the reason it was done."

At 7:59 p.m., the Pacific Tsunami Warning Center in Hawaii issued an advisory stating that no tsunami watch or warning was in effect for coastal Hawaii, and by 9:09 PDT, the West Coast warning and watch were canceled.

Responses to the West Coast warning varied. While sirens sounded and evacuations took place in Crescent City and parts of Oregon's coast, people elsewhere heard the warnings through radio reports and informational crawls on TV. Many others heard nothing.

"Crescent City did very well," Synolakis said. "The rest of the coast, it was wait and see. But I don't know — had there had been a big tsunami — if this wait and see attitude would have carried the day."

Ultimately, it's state and local emergency management officials who determine whether to broadcast alerts or order evacuations.

At California's Office of Emergency Services, officials quickly warned counties of the potential for a tsunami, said OES spokeswoman Sheryl Tankersley, "and then we polled the counties to make sure they all received the warning."

In Brookings, a retirement community just over the Oregon border from California, police Lt. John Bishop said the city needs to work on how to keep emergency 911 telephone lines open should a real tsunami hit.

The warning "almost shut our 911 system down, and we don't want people to call asking if we had an earthquake," he said. "We need to leave those lines open for services."

Some far-flung coastal residents complained that no one had alerted them to the possible disaster.

"The radio stations weren't telling us," Hammond, Ore. resident Neal Kirsher told The Daily Astorian newspaper. "I'm the most northwest house in Oregon. There's one dune between me and the ocean."

And in Washington, the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration weather and hazard alert radio failed to go off during the West Coast warning, because of a phone line that was out between the office and the Coast Guard. The meteorologist in charge, Chris Sullivan, said they'll look for a more reliable backup.

In coastal LaPush, Wash., Police Chief Bill Lyon said when the warning siren failed to go off automatically, he activated it by hand. Officers and firefighters there eventually evacuated more than 600 residents to higher ground.