A powerful earthquake of magnitude 8.8 struck off Russia's Kamchatka peninsula on Wednesday, triggering tsunami warnings across the Pacific. The shallow quake, centred 126km south-east of Petropavlovsk-Kamchatsky, prompted evacuations in several countries, though many later downgraded their alerts as the impact was less severe than initially feared.
In Russia, waves of up to four metres were recorded along parts of the coast, flooding a port and sweeping away a building. One death was reported in Japan, where a 58-year-old woman died after her car veered off a cliff while she tried to reach higher ground. No fatalities were confirmed in Russia, though several injuries were reported, including a person who jumped from a window.
The earthquake also triggered an eruption of the Klyuchevskoy volcano near the epicentre, according to the Russian Geophysical Survey. In Severo-Kurilsk, a town of about 2,000 people, tsunami waves submerged a fishing plant and reached a second world war monument 400 metres from the shore. All residents were evacuated to safety zones.
Waves of up to 1.3 metres hit Japan's coast, leading to evacuation orders for over 900,000 residents in 133 municipalities. Smaller surges were recorded in Hawaii and along the US west coast, where officials warned residents to stay away from the water. Chile raised its tsunami warning to the highest level for most of its coast, evacuating hundreds of people.
French Polynesia initially warned of waves up to four metres in the Marquesas Islands but later revised the forecast to 2.5 metres. A tsunami watch remained in effect for Guam and Micronesia. Russian authorities lifted their tsunami alerts late on Wednesday after 11 hours of warnings.
