Tsunami warnings have been lifted across much of the Pacific after one of the most powerful earthquakes in recent memory struck Russia’s Far East early Wednesday.
The magnitude 8.8 quake hit near the Kamchatka Peninsula at 11:25 a.m. local time (00:25 BST), prompting widespread tsunami alerts across the Pacific basin and forcing the evacuation of over two million people in regions including parts of Russia, Japan, Hawaii, and the U.S. West Coast.
Despite the intensity of the earthquake, no serious injuries or major destruction have been reported.
“The disaster we feared didn’t happen,” one tourist in Hawaii told the BBC.
Tsunami warnings in Hawaii prompted thousands to flee to higher ground.
Waves of up to 1.7 meters struck Maui, while Oahu saw surges of around 1.2 meters.
Hawaii Governor Josh Green urged residents to take the threat seriously: “This is not a normal wave.
“A tsunami can be deadly.”
However, hours later, he confirmed that “no wave of consequence” had been observed.
The Pacific Tsunami Warning Center (PTWC) later downgraded Hawaii’s status to a tsunami advisory, meaning dangerous currents and minor flooding could still occur.
However, a major tsunami was no longer expected.
Hawaii’s emergency management officials allowed evacuees to return home but advised continued caution.
On the U.S. mainland, Crescent City in Northern California recorded waves reaching 1.09 meters, while San Francisco experienced a 0.7-meter tidal surge.
The Los Angeles weather service noted that Port San Luis was facing a rapid and potentially damaging sea level rise.
Further north, British Columbia issued a tsunami advisory for much of its coast, warning residents to stay away from the shore.
The advisory was later lifted without reports of damage.
In Russia, waves up to 5 meters tall reached Severo-Kurilsk, a port town of around 2,000 people that had been evacuated.
Although the town escaped major damage, a state of emergency was declared on the northern Kuril Islands, where infrastructure including power lines was affected.
The Klyuchevskoy Volcano, located in the region, began erupting shortly after the quake.
Russia’s Geophysical Survey confirmed that lava was flowing down the volcano’s western slope, a frequent event in the seismically active area.
Governor Vladimir Solodov of Kamchatka described the event as the strongest earthquake the region has seen in decades.
At least six aftershocks followed, one of which measured 6.9.
In Japan, millions were awakened by tsunami sirens.
Waves over one meter high struck parts of the Pacific coast, especially Iwate Prefecture, where nearly two million residents were ordered to evacuate.
The government later downgraded the tsunami warning to an advisory covering areas from north of Tokyo to Wakayama in the southwest.
Prime Minister Shigeru Ishiba reported that no significant damage had been confirmed.
At Fukushima’s nuclear plant, 4,000 workers were evacuated as a precaution, though no irregularities were found.
The memory of the 2011 Fukushima disaster, triggered by a 9.0-magnitude quake and tsunami, looms large in the national consciousness.
Elsewhere in the Pacific, French Polynesia initially predicted waves up to 4 meters in the Marquesas Islands, but the largest actually observed reached only 1.5 meters.
Papua New Guinea, the Solomon Islands, and Vanuatu also issued tsunami warnings, advising residents to move inland.
In China, alerts for Zhejiang Province and Shanghai were eventually lifted without incident, as were warnings in Taiwan and the Philippines.
Countries across the Pacific Rim, from New Zealand and Australia to Mexico, Colombia, and Chile, were put on alert for smaller tsunami waves measuring between 1 and 3 meters.
In Peru, authorities closed 65 out of 125 Pacific ports and shut down roads near beaches in Lima due to the threat.
Wednesday’s earthquake occurred within the Pacific Ring of Fire, a geologically volatile zone where nearly 80% of the world’s earthquakes originate.
The Kamchatka Peninsula, located along one of these major tectonic boundaries, is no stranger to powerful seismic activity.
This quake ties for the sixth-largest ever recorded, alongside previous events off the coasts of Chile and Ecuador.
The fifth-largest, a 9.0-magnitude quake near Kamchatka in 1952, generated a 12-meter-high tsunami.
