Powerful quake off Russia sparks Pacific tsunami
The quake struck in the morning off Petropavlovsk on Russia's remote Kamchatka Peninsula and was one of the 10 biggest recorded, according to the U.S. Geological Survey (USGS).
Russian authorities said tsunami hit and flooded the port town of Severo-Kurilsk, while local media said one of between 3-and-4-meters high was recorded in the Elizovsky district of Kamchatka.
A video posted on Russian social media showed buildings in the town submerged in seawater. Authorities said the population of around 2,000 people was evacuated.
Several people were injured in Russia by the quake, state media reported, but none seriously.
"The walls were shaking," a Kamchatka resident told state media Zvezda.
"It's good that we packed a suitcase, there was one with water and clothes near the door. We quickly grabbed it and ran out. ... It was very scary," she said.
Authorities in Russia's far eastern Sakhalin region declared a state of emergency in the northern Kuril Islands. The mayor there said that "everyone" was evacuated to safety.
Officials from countries with a Pacific coastline in North and South America — including the United States, Mexico and Ecuador — issued warnings to avoid threatened beaches.
In Hawaii, Gov. Josh Green said flights in and out of the island of Maui had been cancelled as a precaution.
"So far we have not seen a wave of consequence," he said, adding that it would be at least two or three hours before authorities could give the all-clear.
"So far, though, so good," Green told a news conference. "We have still not seen any wave activity come past the Big Island."
A screen shot of video taken Wednesday shows rescuers inspecting a damaged kindergarten building in Russia's Kamchatka region after a powerful earthquake struck off the area's coast. |
AFP-JIJI
Wednesday's quake was the strongest in the Kamchatka region since 1952, the regional seismic monitoring service said, warning of aftershocks of up to magnitude 7.5.
The epicenter of the earthquake is roughly the same as the massive 9.0 temblor that year. That quake resulted in a destructive, Pacific-wide tsunami, according to the USGS.
In December 2004, a 9.1 magnitude earthquake struck off the Indonesian island of Sumatra, triggering a tsunami that killed around 220,000 people in 11 nations.
On Wednesday, at least six aftershocks further rattled the Russian Far East, including one of 6.9 magnitude and another listed at 6.3.
The U.S. Tsunami Warning Centers said waves exceeding 3 meters above the tide level were possible along some coasts of Ecuador, northwestern Hawaiian islands and Russia.
Between 1-and-3-meter waves were possible along some coasts of Chile, Costa Rica, French Polynesia, Hawaii, Japan and other islands in the Pacific, it said.
Waves of up to 1 meter were possible elsewhere, including Australia, Colombia, Mexico, New Zealand, Tonga and Taiwan.
It described the potential conditions as "hazardous."
Tsunami alerts were also pushed to mobile phones in California.
"STAY STRONG AND STAY SAFE!" U.S. President Donald Trump said on social media.
Tsunami sirens blared near Hawaii's popular Waikiki surf beach where gridlocked traffic was seen as Hawaiians escaped to higher ground.
The U.S. Tsunami Warning Centers issued a Tsunami Warning — its highest level alert — for the entire U.S. state of Hawaii. The warning was later downgraded to an advisory.
"People are also advised to stay away from the beach and not to go to the coast," the seismology center said.
Vessels were ordered to head to open water ahead of the expected arrival of waves up to 2 meters, while government employees in Honolulu were sent home early.
In Taitung in Taiwan, hotel resort worker Wilson Wang, 31, said: "We've advised guests to stay safe and not go out, and to avoid going to the coast."
Pacific nation Palau, about 800 kilometers east of the Philippines, ordered the evacuation of "all areas along the coastline."
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