TOKYO (AP) – One of the world’s strongest earthquakes struck early on Wednesday in Russia’s Far East, causing a tsunami in the North Pacific region, prompting warnings towards Alaska, Hawaii and New Zealand towards the south.
Tsunami warning sirens rang out in Honolulu on Tuesday, moving people to the highlands.
Japan’s weather agency said the first tsunami wave (about 1 foot) of about 30 cm (about 1 foot) has arrived in Nemuro on the east coast of Hokkaido.
Damage and evacuation reported in the Russian area closest to Quake’s epicenter Kamchatka Peninsula.
According to local Valery Limalenko, the first tsunami waves collided with the coastal region of Severo Krilsk, a major settlement in Russia’s Kuril Islands in the Pacific Ocean. He said residents would be safe and stay high altitudes until the repeated threat of waves is gone.
The Pacific Tsunami Warning Center said waves of 1-3 meters (yards) of tidal levels are possible along several coastal regions of Hawaii, Chile, Japan and the Solomon Islands. Waves (yards) over 3 meters were possible along several coastal regions of Russia and Ecuador.
The Pacific Tsunami Warning Center said tsunamis could be generated by earthquakes and cause damage along all Hawaiian Islands coastlines.
“We should take urgent action to protect our lives and property,” the warning said. The first wave was expected local time around 7pm on Tuesday.
Japan’s 8:25am earthquake was a preliminary magnitude of 8.0, said seismologists from Japan and the US. A US Geological Survey later updated its measurements to 8.8 magnitude, with the USGS saying the earthquake occurred at a depth of 20.7 kilometers (13 miles).
The earthquake was about 119 kilometres (74 miles) away from the Russian city of Petrovlovsk Kamchatsky on the Kamchatka Peninsula.
The Russian Tass News Agency said people from Petropavlovsk-Kamchatsky went out into the streets without shoes or outerwear. The cabinet collapsed inside the house, the mirrors broke, cars shook in the streets, and the building’s balcony shook significantly. TASS also reported power outages and cell phone service failures.
Tas also cited local Russian officials saying that Sakhalin residents have been evacuated and emergency services are working at full capacity.
The Alaska-based National Tsunami Warning Center issued tsunami warnings to parts of the Alaska Aleutian Islands, monitoring parts of the west coast, including California, Oregon, Washington and Hawaii.
The consultation also includes a vast strip of Alaska’s coastline, including parts of the Panhandle.
The earthquake appeared to be the strongest place in the world since the March 2011 earthquake off the coast of Northeast Japan. Though measured around the world, only a few more powerful earthquakes are.
New Zealand authorities have issued warnings of “strong, unusual currents and unpredictable surges” along coastlines around the country. A warning from the government’s Emergency Management Agency said people should leave the water and move away from beaches and coastal areas, away from ports, marinas, rivers and estuaries.
New Zealand is located in the South Pacific Ocean and is approximately 6,000 miles from the epicenter.
Five powerful earthquakes (largest, 7.4 size) struck in the ocean near Kamchatka at the beginning of July. The biggest tremor was 20 km deep, 144 km (89 miles) east of Petropavlovsk-Kamchatsky city.
On November 4, 1952, Kamchutka’s magnitude 9.0 earthquake caused damage, but no deaths were reported despite stopping the 9.1 metre (30 feet) waves in Hawaii.
