A powerful 8.8-magnitude earthquake off Russia’s eastern coast has triggered evacuations and tsunami warnings across the Pacific, affecting countries from the US to Japan, and as far away as Polynesia and Chile.
The earthquake early on Wednesday was the sixth strongest ever recorded and was followed by an eruption of the most active volcano on the Kamchatka Peninsula, near the epicentre of the shallow quake, as authorities warned that the risk from the quake could last for hours around the world.
The quake damaged buildings and injured several people in the remote Russian region, while much of Japan’s eastern seaboard was ordered to evacuate, as were parts of Hawaii. Tsunami waves reached all three, as ports on the Kamchatka Peninsula flooded, with residents fleeing inland, while frothy, white waves washed up to the shore in northern Japan, and cars jammed streets and highways in Hawaii’s capital.
Hawaii recorded waves of up to 1.7 metres while in Japan the largest recorded came to 1.3 metres, officials said. Waves of nearly half a metre were observed as far away as California, with smaller ones reaching Canada’s province of British Columbia.
However, no one has been seriously injured and no major damage has been reported so far, with the danger already appearing to be lessening in some places. Hawaii and parts of Japan have downgraded their warnings, while authorities on the Kamchatka peninsula cancelled their tsunami warning.
Although Chile has now upgraded its warning to the highest level for most of its lengthy Pacific coast, and said it was evacuating hundreds of people. And authorities in French Polynesia warned residents of several of the remote Marquesas Islands to move to higher ground and expect waves as high as 2.5 metres (8 feet), as waves started to hit some islands in the early hours of Wednesday. Authorities in Ecuador’s Galapagos Islands also ordered the precautionary evacuation of people living in vulnerable coastal areas on Wednesday.
Follow our live coverage of the aftermath of the earthquake here.
Much of the US west coast, spanning California, Oregon, Washington state, and the Canadian province of British Columbia, remained under a tsunami advisory, which means there is the potential for strong currents and dangerous waves, as well as flooding on beaches or in harbours. Hawaii was still under a tsunami advisory as Wednesday began, but evacuation orders on the Big Island and Oahu, the most populated island, had been lifted. And flights out of Honolulu airport resumed in the evening, the transportation department said.
The impact of the tsunami could last for hours or perhaps more than a day, warned Dave Snider, tsunami warning co-ordinator with the National Tsunami Warning Centre in Alaska. “A tsunami is not just one wave,” he explained. “It’s a series of powerful waves over a long period of time.”
The Pacific Tsunami Warning Center said the earthquake hit just before 1.30pm Hawaii Standard Time. It was initially reported as a magnitude 8 but the US Geological Survey upgraded it to an 8.7 and later 8.8. The US Geological Survey said the quake was shallow at a depth of 19.3 km (12 miles), and centred 119 km (74 miles) east-southeast of Petropavlovsk-Kamchatsky, a city of 165,000.
Tsunamis are triggered by underwater earthquakes, which cause the seafloor to rise and drop, lifting water up and down. The energy from this pushes huge volumes of sea water that transfers to waves. While many people think of a tsunami as one big wave, in reality they are typically multiple waves that rush ashore like a fast-rising tide.
A tsunami watch is issued when there is a potential for a tsunami to develop. That alert can be upgraded to an advisory if monitors find reason to believe the waves generated by a potential tsunami are likely to be dangerous. A tsunami warning is issued when widespread water inundation or significant coastal flooding is expected from a confirmed tsunami.
Earlier, Canada, the Philippines, Indonesia, Mexico, and New Zealand were among the countries fearing tsunami waves would hit.
Tsunami warning sirens sounded in Honolulu, as governor Josh Green warned of the possibility of people drowning as waves “could take them out”. He added that Black Hawk helicopters had been activated and high-water vehicles were ready to go in case authorities need to rescue people. Maui officials shut off water valves and wastewater facilities in coastal areas to prevent damage, advising residents to store water and expect low or no pressure, according to the County’s Department of Water Supply. Flights in and out of Maui were also cancelled for the night, and commercial harbours were closed as a precaution.
Meanwhile, tsunami alarms sounded in coastal towns across Japan’s Pacific coast and evacuation orders were issued for tens of thousands of people. Workers evacuated the stricken Fukushima nuclear plant, where a meltdown following the 2011 tsunami caused a radioactive disaster, operator TEPCO said, although no irregularities at any nuclear plants were reported on Wednesday. The tsunami alert also disrupted transportation in the country, with ferries, trains and airports in the affected area suspending or delaying some operations.
Russia’s Ministry for Emergency Services said on Telegram that a kindergarten was damaged, as was a power grid in Sakhalin, Russia’s RIA news agency reported, citing the regional governor, prompting a shutdown of electricity. Meanwhile, video footage from the region’s health ministry showed a team of medics in Petropavlovsk-Kamchatsky performing surgery as the quake shook their operating theatre.
“Aftershocks are currently ongoing,” said Danila Chebrov, director of the Kamchatka Branch of the Geophysical Service, on Telegram. “Their intensity will remain fairly high. However, stronger tremors are not expected in the near future.”
