Russian TV shows buildings swept away as tsunami hits coast
MOSCOW — Russian state television on Wednesday aired footage of a tsunami wave sweeping through a coastal town in the far east of the country, carrying buildings and debris into the sea.
An 8.8 magnitude megaquake struck off the coast of Russia's far eastern Kamchatka peninsula earlier, prompting evacuations and tsunami alerts across parts of the Pacific coast.
In Severo-Kurilsk, a Russian town of about 2,000 people some 350 kilometers (217 miles) southwest of the earthquake's epicenter, 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 four meters high in some areas, reached as far as the town's World War II monument about 400 meters (1,312 feet) from the shoreline, according to Mayor Alexander Ovsyannikov.
Most of the town lies on higher ground safe from flooding, he added.
"Everyone was evacuated. There was enough time, a whole hour. So everyone was evacuated, all the people are in the tsunami safety zone," he said at a crisis meeting with officials earlier.
'Everyone acted quickly'
The Kremlin said "all warning systems" had worked properly.
"Thank God, there were no casualties," spokesman Dmitry Peskov told reporters including AFP.
An expedition group from the Russian Geographical Society was on the neighboring island of Shumshu when the tsunami swept away their tent camp.
"When the wave hit, all we could do was run to higher ground. It's very difficult to do that in boots on slippery grass and in fog," group member Vera Kostamo told Russian tabloid Komsomolskaya Pravda.
"All the tents and structures were swept away by the wave, and our belongings were scattered across the beach for hundreds of meters," she added.
"We have no casualties, everyone acted quickly, but we lost all our belongings."
Authorities in the Sakhalin region, which includes the northern Kuril Islands, declared a state of emergency.
The regional seismic monitoring service said the earthquake was the region's strongest since 1952.
"Strong aftershocks with a magnitude of up to 7.5 should be expected," it added. — Agence France-Presse
Hashtags
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
GMA Network
2 hours ago
- GMA Network
Russia cancels tsunami warning for Kamchatka after quake, dormant volcano erupts
Russia's Ministry for Emergency Services lifted a tsunami warning for the Kamchatka Peninsula on Sunday after a 7.0 magnitude earthquake hit the nearby Kuril Islands. The ministry had said earlier on the Telegram messaging app that expected wave heights were low, but warned people to move away from the shore. The Pacific Tsunami Warning System, which gauged the quake at 7.0, said, however, there was no tsunami warning after the quake. The US Geological Survey also said the earthquake was at a magnitude of 7. Overnight, the Krasheninnikov Volcano in Kamchatka erupted for the first time in 600 years, Russia's RIA state news agency and scientists reported on Sunday. Both incidents could be connected to the huge earthquake that rocked Russia's Far East last week, that triggered tsunami warnings as far away as French Polynesia and Chile, and was followed by an eruption of Klyuchevskoy, the most active volcano on the Kamchatka Peninsula. The Kuril Islands stretch from the southern tip of Kamchatka Peninsula. Russian scientists had warned on Wednesday that strong aftershocks were possible in the region in the next several weeks. "This is the first historically confirmed eruption of Krasheninnikov Volcano in 600 years," RIA cited Olga Girina, head of the Kamchatka Volcanic Eruption Response Team, as saying. On the Telegram channel of the Institute of Volcanology and Seismology, Girina said that Krasheninnikov's last lava effusion took place within 40 years of 1463 and no eruption has been known since. The Kamchatka branch of Russia's ministry for emergency services said that an ash plume rising up to 6,000 meters (3.7 miles) has been recorded following the volcano's eruption. The volcano itself stands at 1,856 meters. "The ash cloud has drifted eastward, toward the Pacific Ocean. There are no populated areas along its path," the ministry said on Telegram. The eruption of the volcano has been assigned an orange aviation code, indicating a heightened risk to aircraft, the ministry said. — Reuters
GMA Network
4 days ago
- GMA Network
Millions return home as Pacific tsunami warnings lifted
This video grab from a drone handout footage released by Geophysical Service of the Russian Academy of Sciences on July 30, 2025, shows the tsunami-hit Severo-Kurilsk on Paramushir island of Russia's northern Kuril islands. Handout/ Geophysical Service of the Russian Academy of Sciences/ AFP PUERTO AYORA, Ecuador—Tsunami warnings were lifted across the Pacific rim Wednesday, allowing millions of temporary evacuees to return home. After one of the strongest earthquakes ever recorded rattled Russia's sparsely populated Far East, more than a dozen nations -- from Japan to the United States to Ecuador — warned citizens to stay away from coastal regions. Storm surges of up to four metres (12 feet) were predicted for some parts of the Pacific, after the 8.8 quake struck off Russia's Kamchatka peninsula. The tsunamis caused widespread disruption. Peru closed 65 of its 121 Pacific ports and authorities on Maui cancelled flights to and from the Hawaiian island. But fears of a catastrophe were not realised, with country after country lifting or downgrading warnings and telling coastal residents they could return. In Japan, almost two million people had been ordered to higher ground, before the warnings were downgraded or rescinded. The Fukushima nuclear plant in northeast Japan -- destroyed by a huge quake and tsunami in 2011 — was temporarily evacuated. The only reported fatality was a woman killed while driving her car off a cliff in Japan as she tried to escape, local media reported. In Chile, authorities conducted what the Interior Ministry said was "perhaps the most massive evacuation ever carried out in our country" -- with 1.4 million people ordered to high ground. Chilean authorities reported no damage or victims and registered waves of just 60 centimeters (two feet) on the country's north coast. In the Galapagos Islands, where waves of up to three meters were expected, there was relief as the Ecuadoran navy's oceanographic institute said the danger had passed. Locals reported the sea level falling and then rising suddenly, a phenomenon which is commonly seen with the arrival of a tsunami. But only a surge of just over a meter was reported, causing no damage. "Everything is calm, I'm going back to work. The restaurants are reopening and the places tourists visit are also open again," said 38-year-old Santa Cruz resident Isabel Grijalva. Earlier national parks were closed, schools were shuttered, loudspeakers blared warnings and tourists were spirited off sightseeing boats and onto the safety of land. The worst damage was seen in Russia, where a tsunami crashed through the port of Severo-Kurilsk and submerged the local fishing plant, officials said. Russian state television footage showed buildings and debris swept into the sea. The surge of water reached as far as the town's World War II monument about 400 meters from the shoreline, said Mayor Alexander Ovsyannikov. The initial quake also caused limited damage and only light injuries, despite being the strongest since 2011, when 15,000 people were killed in Japan. Russian scientists reported that the Klyuchevskoy volcano erupted shortly after the earthquake. "Red-hot lava is observed flowing down the western slope. There is a powerful glow above the volcano and explosions," said Russia's Geophysical Survey. Pacific alerts Wednesday's quake was the strongest in the Kamchatka region since 1952, the regional seismic monitoring service said, warning of aftershocks of up to 7.5 magnitude. The US Geological Survey said the quake was one of the 10 strongest tremors recorded since 1900. It was followed by dozens of aftershocks that further shook the Russian Far East, including one of 6.9 magnitude. The USGS said there was a 59 percent chance of an aftershock of more than 7.0 magnitude in the next week.—Agence France-Presse
GMA Network
4 days ago
- GMA Network
Japan sees new record high temperature of 41.2C
Pedestrians use umbrellas to shelter from the sun as they cross a street in the Kabukicho entertainment area of Shinjuku in central Tokyo on July 29, 2025. Photo by Richard A. Brooks / AFP TOKYO, Japan - Japan sweltered in a new record temperature of 41.2C on Wednesday, with the mercury also hitting 40C in the ancient capital of Kyoto for the first time since observations began. Temperatures the world over have soared in recent years as climate change creates ever more erratic weather patterns, and Japan is no exception. Wednesday's new record in the western region of Hyogo surpassed the previous high of 41.1C seen in Hamamatsu in 2020 and Kumagaya in 2018, the weather office said. The record comes on a day Japan was also on high alert for tsunamis after a massive magnitude 8.8 earthquake in Far East Russia. In tourist hotspot Kyoto the mercury hit 40C, the first time any of its observation points -- the oldest opened in 1880, the newest in 2002 -- had seen such a high, authorities said. Japan's summer last year was the joint hottest on record, equalling the level seen in 2023, followed by the warmest autumn since records began 126 years ago. The Japanese government has issued heatstroke warnings to a large swathe of the archipelago in recent days as temperatures topped 35C at hundreds of observation points. On Tuesday, the temperature hit 35C or higher at 322 of 914 observation points nationwide, reportedly the highest number since comparative data became available in 2010. New highs were set in 38 locations, including Gujo in Gifu Prefecture in central Japan, which reached 39.8C, the Japan Meteorological Agency (JMA) said. The heatwave is forecast to continue, the JMA said, warning of a "significant" rise in temperature in northern and eastern regions. "Please take care of your health including (avoiding) heatstroke," it said. Heatstroke A total of 10,804 people in Japan were sent to hospital due to heatstroke last week, the highest weekly figure this year. In total 16 people died, the Fire and Disaster Management Agency said. The number is the highest this year, surpassing the previous record of 10,053 people hospitalised in the week from June 30 to July 6. Every summer, Japanese officials urge the public to seek shelter in air-conditioned rooms to avoid heatstroke. The elderly in Japan -- which has the world's second-oldest population after Monaco -- are particularly at risk. Western Europe saw its hottest June on record last month, as extreme temperatures blasted the region in punishing back-to-back heatwaves, according to the EU climate monitor Copernicus. Dangerous temperatures stretched into July, with separate research estimating that climate change made the heat up to 4C hotter, pushing the thermometer into deadly territory for thousands of vulnerable people and greatly worsening the projected death toll. Millions were exposed to high heat stress as daily average temperatures in western Europe climbed to levels rarely seen before -- and never so early in the summer. Several countries recorded surface temperatures above 40C, with heat of up to 46C in Spain and Portugal, the Copernicus Climate Change Service (C3S) said. — Agence France-Presse
