French Polynesia authorities warn of tsunami waves up to 4m high after quake
French Polynesia authorities warned of tsunami waves up to 4m high.
Japan downgraded some tsunami alerts.
Authorities in French Polynesia warned the population of several of the Marquesas Islands to expect tsunami waves up to 4m high in the early hours of Wednesday morning after a huge quake off Russia's Far east.
They said the waves would reach the islands of Ua Huka, Nuku Hiva and Hiva Oa at 00:57 local time (10:27 GMT).
Other islands in the Marquesas were expected to experience wave heights between 0.60m and 0.90m, the local government also said.
The warnings follow a powerful 8.8-magnitude earthquake that struck Russia's Far Eastern Kamchatka Peninsula.
'Our armed forces in French Polynesia are on alert as a precautionary measure, to be ready to assist our fellow citizens and state services in potential search and rescue operations or medical evacuations,' French Defence Minister Sebastien Lecornu said on the social media platform X.
Residents were urged to move to higher ground and follow official instructions, including securing boats or moving them away from the shore.
AFP reported that Japan's weather agency on Wednesday evening downgraded tsunami alerts issued for a wide swath of the archipelago following the earthquake, while keeping warnings unchanged for its northern areas.
Warnings for eastern Japan's Ibaraki region all the way down to the southern Wakayama region have now been downgraded to 'advisories', Japan's weather agency said on its website.
In Severo-Kurilsk, a Russian town of about 2 000 people some 350km southwest of the earthquake's epicentre, tsunami waves crashed through the port area and submerged the local fishing plant, according to authorities.
The town lies on the northern Kuril island of Paramushir, just south of the Kamchatka peninsula.
The waves, which were up to 4m high in some areas, reached as far as the town's World War II monument about 400m from the shoreline, according to Mayor Alexander Ovsyannikov.
The Marquesas Islands, among the most remote in the world, have a population of approximately 9 500, according to a 2022 census.
The population is predominantly of Polynesian descent, alongside French and other immigrant communities.
The largest settlements are Taiohae on Nuku Hiva and Atuona on Hiva Oa.
Other archipelagos in French Polynesia may be affected by waves less than 30cm high, which do not require evacuation or sheltering, local authorities said.
French Polynesia covers 4 200km2 of the Pacific Ocean.
Its five archipelagos comprise 118 islands.
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