One of the strongest earthquakes ever recorded, an 8.8-magnitude tremor off Russia's Kamchatka peninsula, triggered tsunami warnings across the Pacific, though many countries later downgraded them after water surges proved less destructive than feared. The shallow quake, at a depth of 12 miles, struck 78 miles south-east of Petropavlovsk-Kamchatsky, according to the US Geological Survey.
In Russia, waves of 3 to 4 metres were recorded along parts of the shore, flooding a port and sweeping away a building. The government reported no fatalities, but several people were injured during the initial earthquake, including a woman who jumped from a window. In Severo-Kurilsk, tsunami waves submerged a fishing plant and reached a second world war monument 400 metres inland.
In Japan, more than 900,000 residents in 133 municipalities were ordered to evacuate, with waves up to 1.3 metres recorded along the coast. One death was reported: a 58-year-old woman whose car veered off a cliff as she tried to reach higher ground. Smaller surges later hit Hawaii and the US west coast, with waves less than a foot above normal sea level.
The earthquake also triggered a violent eruption of the Klyuchevskoy volcano near the epicentre, the Russian Geophysical Survey reported. French Polynesia warned the Marquesas Islands of waves up to 4 metres, later revised to 2.5 metres, while Chile raised its tsunami warning to the highest level and evacuated hundreds of people.
Russian authorities lifted tsunami alerts after 11 hours, and a tsunami watch remained for Guam and Micronesia. The US National Tsunami Warning Center said waves as high as 3 metres could hit Ecuador. Officials urged residents to stay away from the water, noting that subsequent waves could be more powerful.
