A powerful 8.8-magnitude earthquake off Russia's Kamchatka peninsula triggered tsunami warnings across the Pacific, though many countries later downgraded alerts as the impact was less severe than initially feared. The shallow quake struck at a depth of 12 miles, about 78 miles south-east of Petropavlovsk-Kamchatsky, according to the US Geological Survey.
Waves up to 4 metres high were reported in some remote Pacific regions, with Russia experiencing the most significant damage. Video footage showed a flooded port and a building being swept away. 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 shoreline. The mayor confirmed all residents were evacuated to safety zones.
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. In Russia, several people were injured during the initial earthquake, including one who jumped from a window, but no serious injuries were reported. Kamchatka's governor described the quake as the strongest in decades, with a kindergarten damaged in the area.
Japan ordered evacuations for over 900,000 residents in 133 municipalities along its Pacific coast, with waves up to 1.3 metres recorded. Hawaii and the US west coast experienced smaller surges, with officials warning residents to stay away from the water as subsequent waves could be more powerful. Chile raised its tsunami warning to the highest level for most of its coast and began evacuations.
French Polynesia initially warned of waves up to 4 metres in the Marquesas Islands but later revised the forecast to 2.5 metres. A tsunami watch remained in effect for Guam and Micronesia, while Ecuador was warned of waves as high as 3 metres. Russian authorities lifted their tsunami alerts late on Wednesday, 11 hours after the quake.
The earthquake also triggered a violent eruption of the Klyuchevskoy volcano near the epicentre, according to the Russian Geophysical Survey. The event was one of the strongest ever recorded, but the overall impact of the water surges was less than initially feared, leading to widespread downgrades of warnings across the Pacific.
