130 foot waves. Nuclear disaster. How 2011 tsunami compares to today's
Tsunami evacuation orders lifted: threat to Hawaii, U.S. West Coast, Japan eases
Modest tsunami waves did reach the West Coast of the United States after a magnitude-8.8 earthquake struck off Russia's eastern coast. The earthquake was powerful. One of the strongest ever recorded. The Klyuchevskoy volcano on the Kamchatka peninsula in Russia's far east erupted, Russian state news agency RIA reported.
Almost two million people had been told to evacuate in Japan. But within hours tsunami warnings in Japan - as well as in Russia and Hawaii - were downgraded, though warnings and advisories were still in place for much of the Pacific Ocean. Alerts were issued in China, the Philippines, Indonesia, New Zealand, Peru, Chile and Mexico.
Sirens blare, traffic gridlocks: Hawaii braces for tsunami threat
Still, earlier, as Japan waited to see what the impact of this latest tsnumani was going to be, media reports in the country said the nations was on edge but prepared. The Japan Times reported that towns, villages and nuclear reactors, including the Fukushima Daiichi plant, site of 2011's nuclear disaster, were evacuated. Airports shut while office workers rushed to higher floors in coastal cities. Residents inland, the media outlet said, largey went about their business, while the more vulnerable coastal areas quickly implemented long-planned measures.
The U.S. Geological Survey said the earthquake itself was relatively shallow. It struck at a depth of about 12 miles southeast of Petropavlovsk-Kamchatsky, in eastern Russia. And, in the end, the biggest waves to hit Japan measured about 4 feet, according to Japan's Meteorological Agency. That's six feet less than was forecast.
One person died.
A 58-year-old woman was killed when her car went off a cliff while she was trying to leave a coastal area. She was on her way, local media reported, to an evacuation site when her car fell from a height of about 100 feet on a national highway in Homo Town, Kumano City, about 60 miles south of Osako and Kyoto.
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The Independent
a day ago
- The Independent
Animation reveals how tsunami, triggered by 8.8-magnitude earthquake, surged across Pacific Ocean
New animation shows the moment a massive earthquake struck Russia and triggered multiple tsunami alerts across the world. An 8.8 magnitude earthquake struck off the country's far eastern Kamchatka Peninsula on Wednesday (July 30), causing flooding in the coastal town of Severo-Kurilsk. The powerful tremors also raised tsunami alarms in regions such as New Zealand, Chile, Japan, Hawaii, and the US west coast, prompting evacuation orders for millions of people. A video released by National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) Research on Thursday captures tsunami waves surging through the Pacific Ocean as a result of the seismic activity. Several people were injured in the earthquake. However, no major damage was reported.
The Guardian
2 days ago
- The Guardian
Why did such a powerful earthquake and tsunami cause so little damage?
On Wednesday, one of the most powerful earthquakes ever recorded hit a sparsely populated region in far-east Russia. It triggered a tsunami that started crossing the ocean at hundreds of miles an hour. What followed was a race against time: early-warning systems went into alert mode as waves fanned out towards the coastlines of Japan, Hawaii and the US west coast. The damage appears to have been minor so far and this is, in part, thanks to a global and highly successful disaster response effort. More than 3 million people were successfully told to evacuate their homes. At the centre of this remarkable response was the Pacific Tsunami Warning Centre (PTWC), based in Hawaii. Founded in 1949, it was monitoring tsunamis across the entire ocean by the 1960s. A small team of experts identified the size and depth of the earthquake, and a tsunami warning was triggered straight away. The whole thing worked like clockwork – their speed and accuracy may have saved thousands of lives, with temporary evacuees now allowed to return home. But this type of work could be under threat. The PTWC is part of a US government agency that has faced cuts from the Trump administration. The 8.8-magnitude earthquake hit off Russia's Kamchatka peninsula on Wednesday morning. The rupture happened along hundreds of miles of a fault line where the Pacific plate is sinking below the North American plate. This is one of the largest faults on Earth – it is called a megathrust fault – and parts of it are underwater, which means there is always a tsunami risk. The earthquake was 30 miles (47km) beneath sea level and sent shock waves at a range of 200 miles. Tsunamis travel across the ocean at about 500mph, the speed of a jumbo jet, so some communities had just few minutes' warning – while those on the other side of the ocean had a few hours. Unlike in the movies, when it is typically one massive wave, tsunamis are often several waves that will continue to travel around the world for days. The epicentre was near the Russian city of Petropavlovsk-Kamchatsky, which has a population of 180,000 people. Residents fled inland as ports flooded, while 200 miles north, the Klyuchevskoy volcano erupted, with lava descending its western slope. Maximum tsunami wave heights of 4 metres (13ft) were observed in Kamchatka. Some buildings on the coastal area of Severo-Kurilsk in Russia were swept away, according to local officials. The Kremlin has said alert systems 'worked well' in the earthquake response and there were no casualties. The tsunami prompted warnings and evacuations across the Pacific, including in Japan, the US west coast, Hawaii, Canada, Chile, Ecuador and New Zealand. Nevertheless, the height of the waves turned out to be lower than initially feared. In Hawaii the highest recorded waves reached 1.8 metres, in California there were surges of just over a metre, and in Japan waves remained under half a metre. Local authorities were clear about how to evacuate and gave specific locations across more than a dozen nations. Sign up to First Edition Our morning email breaks down the key stories of the day, telling you what's happening and why it matters after newsletter promotion In Hawaii, for example, tsunami warning sirens blared. Evacuations were ordered for some coastal areas as the Honolulu department of emergency management announced: 'Take action. Destructive tsunami waves expected.' People received alerts on their phones. All islands activated emergency operating centres, shelters opened, and people in coastal areas were told to go to higher ground. Similar warnings were issued elsewhere. In Japan, almost 2 million people had been ordered to higher ground. Local media reported one fatality of a woman killed while driving her car off a cliff as she tried to escape. In Chile, authorities conducted what the interior ministry said was 'perhaps the most massive evacuation ever carried out in our country' involving 1.4 million people. Ilan Kelman, professor of disasters and health at University College London, says: 'It looks like it's been very effective. People had that long-term education, and that long-term readiness to know what to do.' He estimates that this preparedness saved thousands of lives. At this time of year there is a lot of tourist activity along many Pacific coastlines, and visitors are often unfamiliar with local warning systems or evacuation zones. This can make evacuations more challenging. 'It appears from places where the tsunami wave has hit, numerous lives were saved by drawing on that past experience,' says Kelman, notably the 2004 Boxing Day tsunami, which killed more than 200,000 people. At the time there was no regional tsunami early warning system in place, and the Indian Ocean was not considered a high-risk area. Some warnings were sent by fax and email, and did not reach people in time. The 2004 tsunami was also significantly more severe – some waves exceeded 30 metres in height; whereas so far waves from this latest tsunami appear to have reached a maximum of 5 metres in Russia, says Kelman. In most places, waves were less than a metre high, and in many places effects were negligible so the disaster that was anticipated did not arrive. This is another important factor in why damage has been limited. Several international centres send out automatic messages for earthquakes, depending on the location. The Indian Ocean tsunami warning system was set up after 2004. Kelman says: 'It was never done before then because it was always too expensive, there were always other priorities, but suddenly it became a priority … It has been tested several times with mixed results, so we have to improve it.' There is no effective equivalent for the Atlantic Ocean. The main centre to identify this earthquake was the PTWC. 'They were on it right away,' says Kelman. 'Knowing the size of the earthquake and the depth of the earthquake and the type of the earthquake meant that there was a significant chance of a major tsunami. They issued tsunami warnings and got the messages out there, which were then disseminated by national governments and local authorities.' However, the PTWC sits within a US government agency targeted by Elon Musk-led cuts earlier this year. Kelman says this tsunami shows how needed it is. He says: 'We would hope that if the cuts did affect them, they will be reversed and that the people who have saved lives today will also get more support for appropriate resources. 'It appears that they were nonetheless exceptionally effective, and we owe them so many thanks for issuing appropriate messages and saving many lives.'
The Independent
2 days ago
- The Independent
Woman died on highway while following tsunami evacuation order
A powerful 8.8 magnitude earthquake struck Russia 's Kamchatka Peninsula on Wednesday, triggering widespread tsunami warnings across the Pacific. A 58-year-old woman in Japan died when her small car veered and fell about 20m from a national highway while evacuating during the tsunami warning. Police suggest she was attempting to reach higher ground. Tsunami waves reached various regions, including Russia (up to 6m), Japan (up to 1.3m), and Chile (up to 2.5m), prompting evacuation advisories for millions. While most Pacific nations dropped their tsunami warnings within 24 hours, some areas, including parts of Japan, northern California, Chile, and New Zealand, maintained alerts or advisories. The earthquake, which occurred on the Pacific Ring of Fire, was followed by multiple aftershocks and an eruption of Russia's Klyuchevskoy volcano.
