EWA BEACH, Hawaii -- Hawaii "dodged a bullet" as initial tsunami waves struck the Hilo area following a devastating 8.8 magnitude earthquake in Chile on Saturday.

"We dodged a bullet," said Dr. Gerard Fryer, with the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration.

Fryer said the waves were not as high as expected following the earthquake that struck the South American country.

The National Weather Service issued a tsunami advisory for Hawaii at 8:48 p.m. Friday, a warning followed shortly afterwards.

By the time the tsunami hit Hawaii -- a full 16 hours after the quake -- officials had already spent the morning ringing emergency sirens, blaring warnings from airplanes and ordering residents to higher ground. The tsunami caused no real damage in Hawaii and the islands were back to paradise by the afternoon.

There were no immediate reports of widespread damage, injuries or deaths in the U.S. or in the Pacific islands, but a tsunami that swamped a village on an island off Chile killed at least five people and left 11 missing.

Hilo Deals With Initial Tsunami Impact

Sirens blared in Hawaii to alert residents to the potential waves. As the waves expected arrival drew near, roads into tourist-heavy Waikiki were closed off. Police patrolled main roads, telling tourists to get off the streets. Some residents said some warning sirens failed.

In Hilo, officials cordoned off the first three blocks next to the beach. A few people watched the still ocean as a whale swam off the coast, but streets were mostly empty as tsunami sirens blared.

Gas stations had long lines, some 10 cars deep. Residents flooded stores for essential items before the tsunami's arrival. The SackNSave grocery store was filled with people buying everything from instant noodles to beer. Shelves with water were mostly empty, save a few bottles.

"They are buying everything we got," clerk Memory Phillik said.

Gov. Linda Lingle declared a state of emergency, but said Hawaii was well prepared for the tsunami. She said leprosy patients from the Kalaupapa settlement on Molokai were moved to higher ground. Helicopters were on stand by if the patients need to be moved to a safer area.

Water surges could be seen moving into Hilo Bay on the Big Island and up Wailuku River. The surges brought mud and exposed reef areas.

Residents reported surges dumping mounds of sand up from Kahului Harbor, Maui, onto the shore. Meanwhile, scientists said they have seen a difference of 6 feet in crest to bottom of the surges in some area.

State and government agencies assessed evacuated regions to ensure residents could safely return.

"There is a lingering threat, but no reason to keep people out on evacuation," said Fryer. But Fryer warned, "Do not go in ocean for the next couple of hours."

While there was no major surge that caused damage, officials said it was important to be safe.

"If this happened tomorrow, even with what we know, we'd be force to do the same exact thing," Fryer said.

Big Island police arrested at least one man suspected of burglarizing a home in the Hawaiian Paradise Park subdivision, where many homes were evacuated. Police said they were searching for another man.

Hawaii Residents Evacuated From Low-Lying Areas

On several South Pacific islands hit by a tsunami last fall, police evacuated tens of thousands of coastal residents.

Unlike other tsunamis in recent years in which residents had little warning, emergency officials along the Pacific on Saturday had hours to prepare and decide on evacuating residents.

"We've got a lot of things going for us," said Charles McCreery, the director of the Pacific Tsunami Warning Center, which issues warnings to almost every country around the Pacific Rim and to most of the Pacific island states. "We have a reasonable lead time."

In Hawaii, where temperatures sat in the 80s, boats and people near the coast were being evacuated. The normally bustling beaches were empty. Hilo International Airport, located along the coast, was closed.

In Honolulu, residents lined up at supermarkets to stock up on food and batteries. Cars lined up 15 long at several gas stations.

"These are dangerous, dangerous events," said John Cummings, spokesman for the Honolulu Emergency Management Department.

The Navy moved more than a half dozen vessels Saturday to try to avoid damage from the tsunami. A frigate, three destroyers and two smaller vessels were being sent out of Pearl Harbor and a cruiser out of Naval Base San Diego, the Navy said.

Navy officials said the ships were safer out at sea than if they were tied to piers where they could have been banged around by the waves.

Tsunami's Effects Felt Throughout The Pacific

In Tonga, where nine people died in a Sept. 29 tsunami, police and defense forces began evacuating tens of thousands of people from low-lying coastal areas as they warned residents that waves about three feet (one meter) high, could wash ashore.

"I can hear the church bells ringing to alert the people," National Disaster Office deputy director Mali'u Takai said.

On the island of Robinson Crusoe, a huge wave from the tsunami covered half the village of San Juan Batista and three people were missing, said Ivan de la Maza, the superintendent of Chile's principal mainland port, Valparaiso.

A helicopter and a Navy frigate were enroute to the island to assist in the search, he said.

A tsunami warning -- the highest alert level -- was in effect for Hawaii, Guam, American Samoa, Samoa and dozens of other Pacific islands. An advisory -- the lowest level -- includes California, Oregon, Washington state, parts of Alaska, and coastal British Colombia.

President Barack Obama said the government was prepared for a tsunami and asked people in Hawaii, American Samoa and Guam to follow the instructions of local authorities.

American Samoa Lt. Gov. Aitofele Sunia called on residents of shoreline villages to move to higher ground. Police in Samoa issued a nationwide alert to begin coastal evacuations. The tsunami was expected to reach the islands Saturday morning.

In French Polynesia, tsunami waves up to 6 feet high swept ashore, damaging parts of the coast.

Meanwhile, disaster management officials in Fiji said they have been warned to expect waves of as high as 7.5 feet to hit the northern and eastern islands of the archipelago and the nearby Tonga islands.

Waves were likely to hit Asian, Australian and New Zealand shores within 24 hours of Saturday's quake. A tsunami wave can travel at up to 600 mph, said Jenifer Rhoades, tsunami program manager at the National Weather Service in Washington.

Some Pacific nations in the warning area were heavily damaged by a tsunami last year. In last fall's tsunami, spawned by a magnitude 8.3 earthquake, 34 people in American Samoa and 183 in Samoa were killed. Scientists later said that wave was 46 feet high.

The tsunami warning center said the waves reached the islands so quickly residents had only about 10 minutes to respond to its alert.

During the devastating December 2004 Indian ocean tsunami, there was little to no warning and much confusion about the impending waves. The tsunami eradicated entire coastal communities the morning after Christmas, killing 230,000 people.

Past South American earthquakes have had deadly effects across the Pacific.

A tsunami after a magnitude-9.5 quake that struck Chile in 1960 -- the largest earthquake ever recorded -- killed about 140 people in Japan, 61 in Hawaii and 32 in the Philippines. It was about 3.3 to 13 feet in height, Japan's Meteorological Agency said.