One of the world’s strongest earthquakes struck Russia’s Far East early Wednesday, an 8.8-magnitude temblor that set off a tsunami in the northern Pacific region and prompted warnings for Alaska, Hawaii and other coasts south toward New Zealand.
Tsunami warning sirens blared Tuesday in Honolulu and people moved to higher ground.
The Japan Meteorological Agency said a tsunami measuring 40 centimetres (1.3 feet) was detected in Tokachi, on the southern coast of Hokkaido, the northernmost of the country’s main islands.
The Russian areas nearest the quake’s epicenter on the Kamchatka Peninsula reported damage and evacuations, but no serious injuries.
The first tsunami wave hit the coastal area of Severo-Kurilsk, the main settlement on Russia’s Kuril Islands in the Pacific, according to the local governor Valery Limarenko. He said residents were safe and staying on high ground until the threat of a repeat wave was gone.
The Pacific Tsunami Warning Center said a tsunami had been generated by the quake that could cause damage along the coastlines of all the Hawaiian islands.
“Urgent action should be taken to protect lives and property,” the warning stated. The first waves were expected around 7pm Tuesday local time.
The Oregon Department of Emergency Management said on Facebook that small tsunami waves were expected along the coast starting around 11:40pm local time, with wave heights between 1 to 2 feet (30 to 60 centimetres).
It urged people to stay away from beaches, harbours and marinas and to remain in a safe location away from the coast until the advisory is lifted.
“This is not a major tsunami, but dangerous currents and strong waves may pose a risk to those near the water,” the department said.
Oregon is under a tsunami advisory, along with much of the West Coast spanning Canada’s British Columbia province, Washington state and California.
The quake at 8:25am Japan time had a preliminary magnitude of 8.0, Japan and US seismologists said. The U.S. Geological Survey later updated its measurement to 8.8 magnitude and the USGS said the quake occurred at a depth of 20.7 kilometres (13 miles).
The quake was centered about 119 kilometres (74 miles) east-southeast from the Russian city of Petropavlovsk-Kamchatsky, which has a population of 180,000, on the Kamchatka Peninsula. Multiple aftershocks as strong as 6.9 magnitude were recorded.
The quake caused damage to buildings and cars swayed in the streets in Petropavlovsk-Kamchatsky, which also had power outages and mobile phone service failures. Russian news agencies quoting the regional Health Ministry saying several people sought medical help in Kamchatka after the earthquake, but no serious injuries were reported.
The earthquake appeared to be the strongest anywhere in the world since the March 2011 earthquake off northeast Japan that was 9.0 magnitude and caused a massive tsunami that set off meltdowns at a nuclear power plant. Only a few stronger earthquakes have ever been measured around the world.
Japanese nuclear power plants along the Pacific coast have reported no abnormalities after Wednesday’s quake. Tokyo Electric Power Company Holdings, which operates the tsunami-hit Fukushima Daiichi nuclear power plant, said about 4,000 workers are taking shelter on higher ground at the plant complex while monitoring remotely to ensure plant safety.
Philippine authorities warned provinces and towns along the archipelago’s eastern coast facing the Pacific of possible tsunami waves of less than 1 metre (3 feet) and advised people to stay away from the beach and coastal areas. “It may not be the largest of waves, but these can continue for hours and expose people swimming in the waters to danger,” Teresito Bacolcol of the Philippine Institute of Volcanology and Seismology told The Associated Press.
New Zealand authorities issued warnings of “strong and unusual currents and unpredictable surges” along coastlines throughout the country. The government emergency management agency said people should move out of the water, off beaches and shore areas, and away from harbors, marinas, rivers and estuaries.
New Zealand is in the South Pacific and about 6,000 miles (9,600 kilometres) from the epicenter.
The quake was the strongest to hit this area in the Kamchatka Peninsula since 1952, according to the local branch of the Geophysical Survey of the Russian Academy of Sciences.
They said that while the situation “was under control” there are risks of aftershocks, which could last for up to a month and warned against visiting certain coastal areas.
Earlier in July, five powerful quakes – the largest with a magnitude of 7.4 – struck in the sea near Kamchatka. The largest quake was at a depth of 20 kilometres and was 144 kilometres (89 miles) east of the city of Petropavlovsk-Kamchatsky.
On Nov. 4, 1952, a magnitude 9.0 quake in Kamchatka caused damage but no reported deaths despite setting off 9.1-metre (30-foot) waves in Hawaii.
