Hawaii escapes major earthquake's tsunami, but buildings washed away in Russia
But buildings were swept away in the Kuril islands district.
The Russian town of Severo-Kurilsk saw waves that exceeded 3m.
Hawaiian authorities have seen no sign of a significant wave since beginning preparations for a tsunami after a powerful earthquake struck off Russia's far eastern Kamchatka Peninsula, governor Josh Green said late on Tuesday.
Hawaii's Emergency Management Agency said all commercial harbours had been closed and flights cancelled in and out of the island of Maui, but there were no plans to shut off power.
According to RIA, tsunami waves near the Russian Pacific town of Severo-Kurilsk exceeded 3m in height, with the most powerful wave reaching up to 5m.
AFP reported that a 1.3m high tsunami reached a port in Japan's northern Iwate prefecture at 13:52 (04:52 GMT), Japan's weather agency said.
The Japan Meteorological Agency kept its tsunami alerts that waves of up to 3m were expected along Japan's Pacific coast, after a magnitude-8.8 earthquake off Russia's Kamchatka Peninsula.
Kyodo News via Getty Images
The mayor of Russia's northern Kuril islands district said on Wednesday that 'everyone' there had evacuated to safety following a tsunami which caused flooding and swept away buildings.
'Everyone was evacuated. There was enough time, a whole hour. So everyone was evacuated, all the people are in the tsunami safety zone,' Mayor Alexander Ovsyannikov said at a crisis meeting with officials.
According to Reuters, the shallow earthquake damaged buildings and injured several people in the remote Russian region, while much of Japan's eastern seaboard - devastated by a 9.0 magnitude earthquake and tsunami in 2011 - was ordered to evacuate.
In Hawaii, coastal residents were told to get to high ground or the fourth floor or above of buildings, and the US Coast Guard ordered ships out of harbours as the tsunami approached.
'Take Action! Destructive tsunami waves expected,' the Honolulu Department of Emergency Management said on X.
Handout/Russian Ministry of Emergency Situations/AFP
Tsunami waves reaching 3m to 4m struck parts of Kamchatka, partially flooding the port and a fish processing plant in the town of Severo-Kurilsk and sweeping vessels from their moorings, regional officials and Russia's emergency ministry said.
'Today's earthquake was serious and the strongest in decades of tremors,' Kamchatka Governor Vladimir Solodov said in a video posted on the Telegram messaging app.
Russia's Ministry for Emergency Services said on Telegram that a kindergarten was damaged, but most buildings withstood the quake. No serious injuries or fatalities have been reported.
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