No joke: Jimmy Kimmel among those evacuating French Polynesia to avoid Pacific Ocean tsunami

After today's devastating 8.9-magnitude earthquake in Japan provoked an even more horrifying tsunami in the Pacific Ocean, the reverberations are being felt on both sides of the Pacific and everywhere in between.

Which is where ABC talk-show host Jimmy Kimmel comes in. He was off this week vacationing in French Polynesia. On his Twitter handle @jimmykimmel, he tried to put up a brave front at first, with an initial reaction of "Suddenly, relaxing on an island in the South Pacific isn't so relaxing anymore. Good thing I brought my aqua stilts." Six hours later, he replied to one fan's query by saying he was at a "solid 7" on a scared scale of 1-10, adding: "on a small island, with no high ground."

And two hours ago, he Tweeted this:

Kimmel

In fortuitous timing, the French Polynesian capital of Papeete had just held tsunami-readiness exercises a day earlier.

Updated: Kimmel has since reported that he's back at his hotel and the coast is clear, so to speak, at least for the island where he is.

My thoughts go out to everyone in Japan and throughout the Pacific Rim and our own West Coast and anyone else impacted by today's earthquake and tsunami. I hope as many people make it out OK as possible.

Sean L. McCarthy

Editor and publisher since 2007, when he was named New York's Funniest Reporter. Former newspaper reporter at the New York Daily News, Boston Herald and smaller dailies and community papers across America. Loves comedy so much he founded this site.

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