BREAKING NEWS Earthquake hits Naples, with 'terrifying roar then strong tremor' sending people fleeing into the streets
Local residents reported hearing a 'roar' and feeling a 'strong tremor' as the 4.6-magnitude quake hit.
The epicentre of the earthquake was just off the coast of the highly active Phlegraean Fields, a volcanic caldera west of the city, at a depth of 1.5 miles.
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
Reuters
28 minutes ago
- Reuters
Death toll rises in China's north following extreme rain, state media says
BEIJING, July 31 (Reuters) - Extreme weather killed at least eight people in the city of Chengde just outside the Chinese capital Beijing, with 18 still unaccounted for, as heavy rainfall pounded the hilly region over the past week. The deaths occurred in villages within the Xinglong area of Chengde in Hebei province, state-run Xinhua reported late on Wednesday citing local authorities, without specifying when or how the people died. Work is still underway to locate those missing, Xinhua said. Set against mountainous terrain, Chengde was known as a resort town for Qing dynasty emperors to escape Beijing's heat in the summer centuries ago. Extreme rains that began last Wednesday have lashed Beijing and surrounding regions, pouring a year's worth of rain in less than a week in some areas and killing at least 30 in the outskirts of the capital. Twenty eight of those deaths occurred in hilly Miyun district. The deaths in Chengde occurred in villages which border Miyun and sit about 25 km (16 miles) away from the Miyun reservoir, the largest in China's north. The reservoir saw record-breaking inflow and outflow of water, and overall water level and capacity during this round of rainfall which devastated nearby towns. At its peak on Sunday, up to 6,550 cubic metres of water - about 2.5 Olympic-sized pools - flooded into the reservoir every second, pushing its capacity to a record high of 3.63 billion cubic metres since it was built in 1960. The villages where eight have died sit on higher elevations in a valley, upstream of the Miyun reservoir. In another village to the north of the reservoir, a landslide on Monday killed eight people while four remained missing. Extreme rainfall and severe flooding, which meteorologists link to climate change, increasingly pose major challenges for Chinese policymakers, with officials partially attributing a slowdown in factory activities to heavy rains and flooding.
Reuters
3 hours ago
- Reuters
Huge quake in Russia triggers tsunami warnings around Pacific
July 30 (Reuters) - A very powerful magnitude 8.8 earthquake off Russia's Far Eastern Kamchatka coast on Wednesday triggered tsunami warnings as far away as French Polynesia and Chile, and was followed by an eruption of the most active volcano on the peninsula. The shallow quake 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, as were parts of Hawaii. By the evening, Japan, Hawaii and Russia had downgraded most tsunami warnings. But authorities in French Polynesia warned residents of several of the remote Marquesas Islands to move to higher ground and expect waves as high as 2.5 metres (8 feet). Tsunami waves began hitting the Marquesas on Wednesday but were forecast to be smaller than initially feared, local authorities said. Some initial wave surges were reported on Nuku Hiva, the largest of the Marquesas, about 1,400 km northeast of Tahiti, and between five to 10 additional waves were expected in the coming hours, the high commission said. Russian scientists said the quake in Kamchatka was the most powerful to hit the region since 1952. The U.S. Geological Survey said it was shallow, at a depth of 19.3 km (12 miles), and centred 119 km (74 miles) east-southeast of Petropavlovsk-Kamchatsky, a city of 165,000. "It felt like the walls could collapse any moment. The shaking lasted continuously for at least three minutes," said Yaroslav, 25, in the city. Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said there had been no casualties in Russia, crediting solid building construction and the smooth operation of alert systems. In Severo-Kurilsk in the northern Kuril Islands, tsunami waves exceeded 3 metres, with the largest up to 5 metres, Russia's RIA news agency reported. A quake of magnitude 6.07 later struck the Kuril Islands that lie between Kamchatka and northern Japan, the German Research Center for Geosciences said. Tsunami waves partially flooded the port and a fish processing plant in the town, sweeping vessels from moorings, regional officials and Russia's emergency ministry said. Verified drone footage showed the town's entire shoreline submerged, with taller buildings and some storage facilities surrounded by water. The Klyuchevskoy volcano on Russia's Kamchatka Peninsula began erupting later, a geological monitoring service said. Located around 450 km (280 miles) north of the regional capital, Petropavlovsk-Kamchatsky, Klyuchevskoy is one of the highest volcanoes in the world. "A descent of burning hot lava is observed on the western slope. Powerful glow above the volcano, explosions," the Russian Academy of Sciences' United Geophysical Service said on Telegram. Hawaii recorded waves of up to 1.7 metres while in Japan the largest recorded came to 1.3 metres, officials said. Flights out of Honolulu airport resumed in the evening, the transportation department said. Waves of nearly half a metre were observed as far away as California, with smaller ones reaching Canada's province of British Columbia. But a tsunami advisory was cancelled for coastal British Columbia as well as coastal areas of south Alaska. In French Polynesia, waves hit some islands in the early morning hours. In other parts, wave heights were expected to remain below 30 cm, not requiring evacuation or sheltering. While the Marquesas are high-rising volcanic islands, much of French Polynesia consists of low-lying atolls. Authorities in Ecuador's Galapagos Islands, some 970 km (600 miles) off South America's western coast, ordered precautionary evacuations to safe zones. Tsunami alarms sounded in coastal towns across Japan's Pacific coast and evacuation orders were issued for tens of thousands of people. Workers evacuated the stricken Fukushima nuclear plant, where a meltdown following the 2011 tsunami caused a radioactive disaster, operator TEPCO said. Chief Cabinet Secretary Yoshimasa Hayashi said no injuries or damage had been reported, and there were no irregularities at any nuclear plants. Kamchatka and Russia's Far East sit on the Pacific Ring of Fire, a geologically active region that is prone to earthquakes and volcanic eruptions. The quake occurred on what is known as a "megathrust fault" where the denser Pacific Plate is sliding underneath the lighter North American Plate, according to scientists. The Pacific Plate has been on the move, making the Kamchatka Peninsula off Russia's Far East coast especially vulnerable, and bigger aftershocks could not be ruled out, they said. Video footage from the region's health ministry showed a team of medics in Petropavlovsk-Kamchatsky performing surgery as the quake shook their operating theatre. The medics used their hands to try to steady both the patient and their equipment, CCTV footage released by the Kamchatka region's health ministry showed.
The Independent
3 hours ago
- The Independent
Tsunami warnings remain in place for South America after volcano eruption and major earthquake off Russian coast: Live
Tsunami warnings remain in place across parts of South America after an 8.8-magnitude earthquake struck off the coast of the Russian far east in the early hours. Fears of a devastating tsunami in the US and Japan faded over Wednesday after one of the strongest earthquakes ever recorded struck Russia's sparsely populated Kamchatka peninsula. But as the region breathed a sigh of relief - with authorities in Hawaii and parts of Japan, Russia and California downgrading their warnings - new evacuation warnings were issued along South America's Pacific coast. Colombia, Chile and Ecuador's Galapagos Islands all saw restrictions and evacuations issued, including beach and school closures. "Remember that the first wave is usually not the strongest," Chilean president Gabriel Boric warned on social media. Several people were injured during the earthquake, but none seriously and no major damage was reported. Hours later, lava was seen coming from the Klyuchevskoy volcano on the peninsula as it began to erupt. On Kamchatka, near the quake's epicentre, residents fled inland as ports flooded, while cars jammed streets in Honolulu. Tsunamis are triggered by underwater earthquakes, which cause the seafloor to rise and drop, pushing huge volumes of sea water into waves. Evacuations ordered in South America Chile, a place highly vulnerable to earthquakes and tsunamis, raised its warning to the highest level yesterday for most of its lengthy Pacific coast and began evacuating hundreds of people. "Remember that the first wave is usually not the strongest," Chilean president Gabriel Boric warned on social media. Colombian officials ordered the complete closure and evacuation of beaches and low-tide areas while maritime traffic was being restricted. Ecuador canceled classes at schools in the Galapagos Islands as well as communities along the coast. Coastlines of New Zealand — about 9,600km from the quake's epicenter — were experiencing strong currents and wave surges. There were no evacuations, but people throughout the South Pacific island nation were warned to stay out of the water and away from beaches, shorelines and harbours. Alisha Rahaman Sarkar31 July 2025 04:02 Watch the moment Hawaii beachgoers evacuated amid tsunami warnings on Wednesday Alex Croft31 July 2025 04:00 Russian surgeons keep steady hands during massive Kamchatka quake A team of medics was in the middle of surgery in the Far Eastern Russian city of Petropavlovsk-Kamchatsky when Wednesday's very powerful magnitude 8.8 earthquake shook their equipment and the floor beneath them. The medics used their hands to try to steady both the patient and their equipment, CCTV footage released by the Kamchatka region's Health Ministry showed. "Despite the danger, the doctors remained calm and stayed with the patient until the very end," Oleg Melnikov, the minister, wrote on Telegram. He gave no details of the surgery but added that the patient was currently out of danger. Alex Croft31 July 2025 03:00 Is it safe to travel to Japan? Is it safe to travel to Japan? Latest advice after tsunami warning Japan still has some tsunami warnings in place along its coastline Alex Croft31 July 2025 01:30 Damage and tsunami waves in Russia after huge earthquake Alex Croft30 July 2025 23:59 Among the world's strongest recorded quakes The earthquake appeared to be the strongest recorded since the 9.0 magnitude earthquake off Japan in 2011 caused a massive tsunami and meltdowns at a nuclear power plant. The International Atomic Energy Agency said initial reports showed Japan's nuclear plants were not affected this time. Wednesday's quake occurred along the "Ring of Fire," a series of seismic faults around the Pacific Ocean. It was centred offshore, about 120 kilometers (75 miles) from Petropavlovsk-Kamchatsky, Kamchatka's regional capital. Multiple aftershocks as strong as 6.9 magnitude followed. Russia's Oceanology Institute said tsunami waves of less than 6 meters (20 feet) were recorded near populated areas of the peninsula. Alex Croft30 July 2025 23:59 Dozens in Japan find refuge on hilltops and on rooftops A tsunami of 2 feet (60 centimeters) was recorded in Hamanaka town in Hokkaido and Kuji port in Iwate, according to the Japan Meteorological Agency. Several areas reported smaller waves, and at least one person was injured. In Iwaki, a city in Fukushima prefecture, which was the epicenter of the 2011 tsunami and quake, dozens of residents gathered at a hilltop park after a community siren sounded and breakwater gates were closed. Workers at the Fukushima Daiichi nuclear plant, severely damaged in 2011, took shelter on higher ground while remotely monitoring operations, the operator said. Hours later, Japan downgraded its tsunami alert but left an advisory in place along the Pacific coast. Alex Croft30 July 2025 23:14 Evacuations ordered in South America Chile, a place highly vulnerable to earthquakes and tsunamis, raised its warning to the highest level early Wednesday for most of its lengthy Pacific coast and began evacuating hundreds of people. "Remember that the first wave is usually not the strongest," Chilean president Gabriel Boric warned on social media. Colombian officials ordered the complete closure and evacuation of beaches and low-tide areas while maritime traffic was being restricted. Ecuador canceled classes at schools in the Galapagos Islands as well as communities along the coast. Alex Croft30 July 2025 22:27 French Polynesia lifts alert after tsunami waves smaller than feared Local authorities lifted the tsunami alert in the Marquesas Islands in French Polynesia on Wednesday and said people could return to their homes, but said residents should remain cautious. The High Commission of the Republic in French Polynesia said wave heights had reached 1.50 metres, down from a previous forecast of up to 4 metres. Additional smaller waves were expected in the coming hours, officials said. Daniel Keane30 July 2025 21:03 Tsunami advisory for Hawaii has now ended A tsunami advisory for the stateof Hawaii has now ended, the Pacific Tsunami Warning Center said in a statement. Daniel Keane30 July 2025 20:35
