A POWERFUL magnitude 8.8 earthquake hit Russia on Wednesday, triggering tsunami waves of up to 5 meters (16 feet) nearby and sparked evacuation orders as far away as Hawaii and across the Pacific on Wednesday.
The shallow earthquake off Russia’s Far Eastern Kamchatka Peninsula damaged buildings and injured several people in the remote Russian region, while much of Japan’s eastern seaboard — devastated by a 9.0 magnitude earthquake and tsunami in 2011 — was ordered to evacuate.
Tsunami waves of nearly half a meter were observed as far as California, with smaller ones reaching Canada’s province of British Columbia.
In Hawaii, waves of up to 1.7 meters (5.5 feet) impacted the islands before the Pacific Tsunami Warning Center reduced its warning level for the state around 0850 GMT, saying no major tsunami was expected.
Coastal residents were earlier told to get to high ground or the fourth floor or above of buildings, and the U.S. Coast Guard ordered ships out of harbors.
In Manila, the Philippine Institute of Volcanology and Seismology (Phivolcs) said it did not observe any tsunami wave. It issued a minor sea-level disturbance advisory about two hours after the 7:25 a.m. quake, and warned of tsunami waves between 1:20 p.m. and 2:40 p.m. yesterday, covering at least 20 provinces. At 4:40 p.m., Phivolcs cancelled the advisory.
Japan and Hawaii, by Wednesday evening, had downgraded their tsunami warnings, but authorities in French Polynesia warned residents of several of the remote Marquesas Islands to move to higher ground, and follow official instructions.
The U.S. Geological Survey said the earthquake was shallow at a depth of 19.3 km (12 miles), and centered 119 km (74 miles) east-southeast of Petropavlovsk-Kamchatsky, a city of 165,000.
Earlier, tsunami alarms sounded in coastal towns across Japan’s Pacific coast. Workers evacuated the stricken Fukushima nuclear plant, where a meltdown following the 2011 tsunami caused a radioactive disaster, operator TEPCO said.
Footage on public broadcaster NHK showed scores of people on the northern island of Hokkaido on the roof of a building, sheltering under tents from the sun, as fishing boats left harbors to avoid any damage from incoming waves.
Broadcaster Asahi TV reported a 58-year-old woman died when her car fell off a cliff while she was evacuating in central Japan’s Mie prefecture.
Three tsunami waves had been recorded in Japan, the largest of 1.3 meters (4.3 feet), officials said.
Chief Cabinet Secretary Yoshimasa Hayashi said no injuries or damage had been reported, and there were no irregularities at any nuclear plants.
The U.S. Tsunami Warning System said waves of more than 3 meters were possible along some coasts of Russia, the northern Hawaiian islands and Ecuador, while waves of 1-3 meters were possible in countries including Japan, Hawaii, Chile and the Solomon Islands.
Parts of French Polynesia were told to brace for waves as high as 4 meters (13 ft)
The waves were expected to hit some islands in the early morning hours.
“Our armed forces in French Polynesia are on alert as a precautionary measure, to be ready to assist our fellow citizens and state services in potential search and rescue operations or medical evacuations,” French Defense Minister Sebastien Lecornu said on the social media platform X.
While the Marquesas are high-rising volcanic islands, much of French Polynesia consists of low-lying atolls.
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Russian scientists said the quake in Kamchatka was the most powerful to hit the region since 1952.
“Today’s earthquake was serious and the strongest in decades of tremors,” Kamchatka Governor Vladimir Solodov said in a video posted on the Telegram messaging app.
In Severo-Kurilsk in the northern Kuril Islands, south of Kamchatka, tsunami waves exceeded 3 meters, with the largest up to 5 meters, Russia’s RIA news agency reported.
Hawaii recorded waves of up to 1.7 meters (5.5 feet) while in Japan, the largest recorded came to 1.3 meters, officials said.
Tsunami warnings and orders to head for higher ground in both places were later downgraded in most areas to advisories, with the Pacific Tsunami Warning Center saying Hawaii no longer expected to see a major tsunami.
