Huge Quake off Russia Sparks Pacific-Wide Tsunami Warnings

AFP/APP

Tokyo: A powerful magnitude 8.8 earthquake struck off Russia’s Far East on Wednesday, triggering tsunami waves that reached parts of Russia and Japan and prompting Pacific-wide tsunami warnings.

Russia’s emergencies ministry confirmed that a tsunami inundated the port town of Severo-Kurilsk, where around 2,000 residents had been evacuated. Footage shared on Russian social media showed buildings partially submerged by seawater. Several people were reportedly injured, though none seriously.

In Japan, live broadcasts showed evacuations in progress, particularly in Hokkaido, where a 30-centimetre wave was first observed. Japan’s weather agency initially issued a one-metre tsunami warning but later upgraded it to a potentially dangerous three metres, covering wide coastal areas from northern Japan to Wakayama, south of Osaka, including smaller islands and bays.

The Geophysical Service of the Russian Academy of Sciences described it as the region’s strongest earthquake since 1952. The US Geological Survey (USGS) initially recorded the quake at 8.0 magnitude but later revised it to 8.8. The epicentre was near the same location as the 1952 9.0-magnitude quake that caused a destructive Pacific-wide tsunami.

At least six aftershocks have followed, including magnitudes 6.9 and 6.3.

Japan’s NHK shifted to emergency coverage, displaying messages urging immediate evacuation. Workers at the Fukushima Daiichi nuclear plant, damaged by the 2011 tsunami disaster, were also evacuated as a precaution.

The US Tsunami Warning Centers cautioned that waves exceeding three metres above tide level were possible along some coasts of Russia, Ecuador, and the northwestern Hawaiian Islands. Waves between one and three metres could hit parts of Japan, Chile, Guam, French Polynesia, Hawaii, Costa Rica, and other Pacific islands. One-metre waves were forecast for Australia, New Zealand, Mexico, Colombia, Taiwan, and Tonga.

Authorities described the situation as “hazardous.”

The United States issued a range of tsunami alerts along its West Coast — from Alaska to California, where alerts were sent directly to mobile phones, according to local AFP reporters.