Tsunami threat after massive 8.8 earthquake: Warnings issued from Russia to Japan and Hawaii

The shallow earthquake 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.
A resident in the city of Petropavlovsk-Kamchatsky said the shaking rumbled for several minutes.

“I decided to leave the building,” said Yaroslav, 25. “It felt like the walls could collapse any moment. The shaking lasted continuously for at least 3 minutes.”

Tsunami waves struck parts of Kamchatka, partially flooding the port and a fish processing plant in the town of Severo-Kurilsk and sweeping vessels from their moorings, regional officials and Russia’s emergency ministry said.

“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. Russian scientists said it was the most powerful quake to hit the region since 1952.

In Hawaii, coastal residents were told to get to high ground or the fourth floor or above of buildings, and the U.S. Coast Guard ordered ships out of harbours as the tsunami approached.

“Take Action! Destructive tsunami waves expected,” the Honolulu Department of Emergency Management said on X.

Shortly after 0730 GMT, the Pacific Tsunami Warning Center said waves of up to 1.7 metres (5.5 feet) were impacting the Hawaiian islands. State Governor Josh Green had earlier said no waves of consequence had hit Hawaii but all flights in and out of Maui had been cancelled.