Twin earthquakes of over 6.5 magnitude strike off Russia's Kamchatka region, GFZ says
A separate earthquake measuring 6.7 magnitude struck off the east coast of Kamchatka at a depth of 10 km, shortly following the previous quake, according to GFZ data.
The European Mediterranean Seismological Centre (EMSC) shows the second earthquake to be of 7.4 magnitude.
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Washington Post
an hour ago
- Washington Post
A tiny California city prone to tsunamis saw the highest waves in continental US after quake
SAN FRANCISCO — A small California coastal city near the border with Oregon that has recorded dozens of tsunamis, including one that killed 11 people more than 60 years ago, saw little damage Wednesday as locals returned to their routines amid sunny skies in the town known as a tsunami magnet. Crescent City recorded waves of up to 4 feet (1.22 meters) early Wednesday — the highest recorded anywhere in the continental United States following an 8.8-magnitude earthquake centered off the coast of Russia's Far East hours earlier. Still, those were far smaller than the 21-foot (6.40 meters) waves caused by the deadly 1964 tsunami. This time, no one was injured in the city of 6,600 and there was no major flooding, with downtown open later Wednesday morning. A dock at the city's harbor was damaged, and officials warned people to stay away from beaches and waterways. 'A lot of people who aren't from here did evacuate. But they ended up coming right back because nothing happened,' said Rose Renee, who works at Oceanfront Lodge that looks out at the famed Battery Point Lighthouse. A surge of water lifted the dock off its pilings around 2:40 a.m., eventually submerging it, Harbormaster Mike Rademaker said at a news briefing. The dock was engineered to disrupt the waves' force before they reach the inner harbor and appears to have functioned as intended, he said. Crescent City is highly susceptible to tsunamis because of an underwater ridge, just offshore, known as the Mendocino Fracture Zone. The ridge funnels tsunamis into deeper water where they pick up speed before they hit the town. Forty-one tsunamis have been observed or recorded since the first tide gauge was installed in Crescent City in 1933. The oral history of local native peoples, geologic evidence and the written records of people elsewhere in the Pacific Rim suggest that tsunamis have battered this shoreline for centuries, according to city records. The 1964 event, considered the worst tsunami disaster recorded in the United States, began with a 9.2 magnitude earthquake in Alaska, according to the Crescent City website. Three small waves caused little damage, but then a big wave — nearly 21 feet (6.40 meters) — devastated 29 city blocks. The quake caused 15 deaths, and the ensuing tsunami caused 124 deaths: 106 in Alaska, 13 in California and 5 in Oregon, according to the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration's National Centers for Environmental Information. Crescent City rebuilt downtown, and today a walking tour highlights high-water marks posted on surviving buildings, objects pushed by waves and memorials to those who died. A tsunami caused by the March 2011 earthquake in Japan killed one person in Crescent City and damaged the harbor. Max Blair, a volunteer at the Del Norte Historical Society, which manages the town's museum and historic lighthouse, said locals have tsunami drills at least once a year. When there is danger of one, cellphone notifications go out and the tsunami sirens in the town sound warnings. Resident then turn to KCRE radio for information, Blair said. If ordered to evacuate, people move to higher ground, normally the town's Walmart about 2 miles (3.22 kilometers) from the shore. 'We evacuate if it's forecast to be a big wave. But the first wave was coming in at low tide and it was only a couple feet, so we just have to stay away from the beach,' Blair said. The city's website warns that a tsunami could happen anytime. Since most of downtown is in the tsunami run-up zone, if there were a near-shore earthquake, people would only have minutes to reach safety. Thirty-two tsunamis have been observed in the city since 1933, including five that caused damage. The greatest impact from the tsunami event along the coast Wednesday morning was around Crescent City with strong tidal swings, including up to 4-foot waves, according to James White, a meteorologist at the National Weather Service's Eureka office. Officials stressed that conditions may be improving, but it wasn't yet safe to head to the beach on Wednesday. There were still dramatic tide fluctuations that must carry high currents, the city manager said. 'It seems like whenever we have these events, it's also time that we lose someone just because they're in the wrong place and they get caught off-guard, and then they're swept out,' Weir said. ___ Brumfield reported from Cockeysville, Maryland.
Yahoo
an hour ago
- Yahoo
In Tofino, B.C., two different reactions to the tsunami advisory news
Taking advantage of his day off on Tuesday, Brian Gray muted his social media and walked for hours along the trail above Tonquin Beach in Tofino, B.C. By the time he got home, it was 9 p.m., and he'd completely missed any news about the tsunami advisory hours earlier. He returned to work for his opening shift at Rhino Coffee House on Campbell Street find a noticeable split in the way customers and colleagues were debriefing: nonchalant locals talking about the tsunami news "like it was the hockey game last night," while deeply concerned visitors looked for reassurance the risk was truly gone. Gray, 31, says he reassured a colleague from Denmark who was in tears. "There's definitely a divide and reaction between people who aren't from Tofino and people who are out of town," said Gray, who moved to the surf town from Nova Scotia five years ago. "Seems to be the farther you are away from here, the more worried you are about the earthquake." Emergency officials in B.C. issued a tsunami advisory for parks of the B.C. coast on Tuesday after a major 8.8-magnitude earthquake east of Russia. In the end, only small waves lapped at the edge of Vancouver Island's beaches and the notice was cancelled early Wednesday. The notice came as another good practice run for locals who know the drill, but was an unnerving experience for visitors reading messages like that for the first time. 'Not this again' It's not that locals don't take earthquake and tsunami risks seriously — they're well aware a major earthquake from the Cascadia Subduction Zone would be catastrophic. They've just practiced. "The local girls who grew up here were saying, 'We've evacuated before, we've done the drills, and everyone's like literally run for their lives before," said Gray. WATCH | Where 'The Big One' could strike off Vancouver Island: Living in an off-grid home just a metre above sea level, Marcie Callewaert-John has long been prepared in case she needs to grab her dogs and hike up to higher ground in a hurry. She said she and her neighbours near Tofino "weren't too concerned" Tuesday, having just brushed up on their plans after a 7.2-magnitude earthquake off the southern tip of Alaska in mid-July. "I was like, 'Not this again,'" Callewaert-John told CBC's All Points West of the second tsunami advisory in as many weeks. "One neighbour had no plans to change anything and was concerned about nothing. They were going straight to bed at 9:00 [p.m.] as usual," she continued. "Another was already in the process of hiking up to a cabin at a higher location. They are a little more exposed and just wanted to play it safe and that's totally understandable." Beachfront hotels were also fresh off a practice run. Staff at Crystal Cove Beach Resort were ready Tuesday after evacuating 425 people in 11 minutes from their Ponsford Beach site after the Alaskan earthquake, though it wasn't necessary in the end. "We're lucky that that's what the end result was last night. It was really nothing," general manager J.J. Belanger said Wednesday. "But good practice, again, when you've got a full resort and a full community." Visitors to the area were left uneasy, unsure what the term "advisory" meant or what they should do. One couple on their honeymoon from England said they never got an emergency alert because their cellphone data was switched off to avoid roaming fees. They woke up around 5:30 a.m. and read about the hours-old advisory the news. "It was pretty scary, especially because where we're staying is right on the water. There's signs along the road talking about a tsunami but I've never really thought about it being an issue here," said Kasia Weir, speaking alongside her new husband on Wednesday. "Then suddenly you wake up and you're like, 'Oh, there could've been something really serious that happened.'" WATCH | The science behind earthquakes and tsunamis: Seismologists and politicians characterized the advisory on Tuesday as another reminder for British Columbians to always be prepared for "The Big One," especially if they're exposed on the west side of Vancouver Island or up the coast of the mainland. "We can always do more in terms of public education," said Brent Ward, co-director of the Centre for Natural Hazards Research. "But we do kind of worry about fatigue if there's a lot of warnings and nothing much happens, then when a real one happens, it can be devastating." Speaking in an interview after wrapping his shift on Wednesday, Gray said he missed the District of Tofino's Voyent Alerts on Tuesday because he hadn't had the chance re-register after switching to a new phone number three weeks ago. He promptly signed himself back up after last night. "I would never want to miss an alert again," Gray said. In the CBC Vancouver podcast Fault Lines, seismologist Johanna Wagstaffe takes listeners through two disastrous scenarios so they can prepare themselves, their families and their neighbours in the event of an earthquake. Download Fault Lines on CBC Listen, Apple Podcasts and Google Podcasts.
CNN
3 hours ago
- CNN
Visualizing the Russia earthquake and tsunami in maps and charts
An 8.8-magnitude earthquake struck off Russia's eastern coast on late Wednesday morning, local time. The quake triggered tsunami waves across the Pacific that hit Russia, Japan, Canada and parts of the US coast. Several nations issued tsunami warnings and evacuation orders. CNN tracked how it all happened, in maps and charts. The earthquake, tied for the sixth-strongest ever recorded, sent massive tsunami waves across the ocean. The highest waves, as of 5:30 a.m. Pacific Time on Wednesday, reached up to 5.7 feet and were recorded mainly in Hawaii, as well as parts of California and Alaska. Some tourists and locals in Maui reportedly spent the night in their vehicles after evacuating to higher ground. Although nearly 2 million people were told to evacuate in Japan initially, all tsunami warnings have been lifted. Tsunami warnings were issued in several countries — though by midday Wednesday Pacific Time many had been lifted or downgraded to advisories. A tsunami warning means dangerous, widespread coastal flooding with strong currents is possible or already occurring, and evacuation is recommended, according to the National Weather Service. A tsunami advisory means 'strong currents or waves dangerous to those in or very near the water' are possible in the region, and beach and harbor areas could flood. People under advisories should 'stay out of the water and away from beaches and waterways,' the weather service says. Following the quake, various levels of tsunami alerts were issued for the Marquesas Islands of French Polynesia, the Galápagos Islands in Ecuador, Papua New Guinea, Solomon Islands and Vanuatu. They were also issued across the US coastline, Hawaii and Canada. A small portion of the Northern California coast, just south of the Oregon border, was under a tsunami warning — the highest level alert — Wednesday morning local time. It has since been downgraded to an advisory. Experts say tsunami warning systems thankfully seemed effective for evacuations and worked in a 'timely manner.' No casualties were reported in Russia. CNN's Mary Gilbert, Ritu Prasad, Gerardo Lemos, Isa Cardona, Christian Edwards, Ivana Kottasova, Ivonne Valdés Garay, Darya Tarasova, Catherine Nicholls, Junko Ogura, Kara Fox Olivia Kemp and Lachlan Mykura contributed to this report
