"Most of the coastal communities in Gisborne evacuated," regional civil defence controller Richard Steele told national radio.

"Things got a bit out of control."

But while there was panic in New Zealand, the 110,000 residents of Tonga were unaware a tsunami warning had been issued.

"Due to a breakdown in an internal communications' system, the Tonga authorities received no warning at all. Also, there seemed to be no internal mechanism for warning," said Kevin Vang of the Australian-Pacific Centre for Emergency and Disaster Information.

The US Geological Survey (USGS) said a "great" quake, initially measured at magnitude 8.0, struck at 4:26 am (1526 GMT Wednesday) in the middle of the islands that make up Tonga.

The epicentre was recorded 160 kilometers (100 miles) northeast of Tonga's main island of Nuku'Alofa and 16 kilometers below the Earth's surface, a relatively shallow distance which increases the likelihood of a tsunami.

It was the largest earthquake recorded by the USGS since a 8.6 temblor off the Indonesian island of Sumatra in March 2005, and immediately sparked fears of a repeat of the 9.0 Asian tsunami which killed 220,000 people in December 2004.

But despite the ferocity of the quake and aftershocks of magnitude 5.4 and 5.1, there were few reports of injury or damage in Tonga.

One hotel guest, identified as South Korean national Song Sang Hoon, hurt his leg when he jumped from a third-floor window.

"He was the only tourist injured. He jumped from his room, maybe he was afraid," said William Vea, the night receptionist at the Pacific Royale Hotel.

Once they assessed the damage was minimal, mainly broken glass and stock tipped from shop shelves, Tongans went back to bed. But in Gisborne, on New Zealand's east coast, residents packed what they could in the middle of the night and headed for higher ground.

Russell Beazley, a worker at a 24-hour petrol station, said it was inundated with people stocking up before heading out of town.

"It was pretty scary stuff looking at all the locals come in, and they were all frightened and grabbing all the supplies they could get," he said.

Kelly Cullen said she and her husband drove their children towards the nearest hill but, hearing it was too crowded, they kept driving. "I'm actually due to have a baby so we thought we better be organised," she said.

The flight from Gisborne sparked a row over how residents were misled.

Many blamed authorities for not correcting news reports when they knew there was no tsunami, but Civil Defence Minister Rick Barker blamed the BBC and other media.

"If the BBC, which is a reliable news outlet... says there is a tsunami heading to New Zealand, which it wasn't, and said it was aimed at Gisborne, which it wasn't, and said that there was a police alert, which there was not, and people accept the value of that news report, then the BBC is at fault," he said.

New Zealand's Geological and Nuclear Sciences department said the earthquake was felt in much of the North Island of New Zealand.

The Hawaii-based Pacific Tsunami Warning Center initially called on New Zealand and Fiji to take immediate action against a possible giant wave, but New Zealand civil defence officials said it was evident within 30 minutes there would be no significant tsunami.

In Fiji police advised residents of villages in low-lying areas to move to higher ground, while tourists in resorts were told to stay on higher floors where possible.

"The flash floods occurred after the storm caused heavy rainfall in the mountains," the newspaper said, quoting government officials in the area.

Earlier media reports had confirmed four deaths after the storm battered coastal areas of western Irrawaddy Division and Southern Rakhine state, damaging 2,500 homes.

Five factories in Hlaing Thar Yar Township, 10 miles west of Yangon, were destroyed by hurricane-force winds.

Myanmar's secretive military government has allowed U.N. agencies and the Red Cross to survey the damage and provide some emergency relief.

The agencies said on Wednesday there was a need for shelters, food, blankets, clothing and mosquito nets.

"The national authorities rapidly started providing relief to affected households. They have not requested international assistance, but welcome it," they said in a joint statement.

Yasar Agdere, Hakkari's security chief, said none of the injured -- including 5 soldiers and a passerby -- were in a serious condition.

"The investigation continues, we still do not know what kind of bomb it was," he told reporters.

The PKK launched a campaign for an independent homeland in 1984 and Ankara, which considers it a terrorist organization, blames it for more than 30,000 deaths since then.

The increase in violence in the southeast has coincided with a series of bomb attacks in Istanbul, and Turkey said last month it was sending reinforcements to the southeast to deal with expected incursions from northern Iraq, where it says thousands of rebels are based.