Japan’s weather agency issued tsunami alerts on Japan’s Pacific coast, upgrading previous advice caused by a powerful magnitude 8.0 earthquake that hit Wednesday morning near Russia’s Kamchatka Peninsula.
The agency issued a tsunami recommendation of up to 3 meters (yards) on Japan’s Pacific coast, and began arriving along Japan’s northern coast, possibly within 30 minutes of alerts.
Tsunami warnings have also been expanded to the state of Hawaii in the US, with the National Weather Service’s Pacific Tsunami Warning Center saying tsunamis have been created from earthquakes that could cause damage along the coastlines of all Hawaiian islands. The tsunami clock was effective from the California-Mexico border to Signick Bay, Alaska.
“We should take urgent action to protect our lives and property,” the warning said. The first wave was expected around 7pm local time.
The Japanese Meteorological Agency said the earthquake occurred at 8:25am (2325 GMT on Tuesday) and registered a reserve magnitude of 8.0. The earthquake was only slightly felt, about 250 kilometers (160 miles) from Hokkaido, the northernmost tip of the country’s four large islands, according to NHK TV in Japan.
A US geological survey said it was a hit at a depth of 19.3 kilometers (12 miles). The USGC said immediately after the initial report that Quake’s strength is magnitude 8.7.
Russia’s TASS news agency reported that many people ran onto the streets without shoes or outerwear from the nearby largest city, Petropavlovsk-Kamchatsky. The cabinet collapsed inside the house, the mirrors broke, cars shook in the streets, and the building’s balcony shook significantly.
TASS also reported power outages and cell phone service failures in the capital of the Kamchatka region.
The Alaska-based National Tsunami Warning Center issued tsunami warnings to parts of the Alaska Aleutian Islands, monitoring parts of the west coast, including California, Oregon, Washington and Hawaii.
The consultation also includes a vast strip of Alaska’s coastline, including parts of the Panhandle.
The Japanese government said it will establish a task force to gather information and respond to emergencies. Sanojimajima, a seismologist at Tokyo school, told NHK that if the epicenter is shallow, a distant earthquake could cause a tsunami affecting Japan.
Part of the region known as the Pacific Ring of Fire, Japan is one of the most earthquake-prone countries in the world.
Five powerful earthquakes (largest, 7.4 size) struck in the ocean near Kamchatka at the beginning of July. The biggest tremor was 20km deep, 144km (89 miles) east of Petropavlovsk-Kamchatsky city, with a population of 180,000.
On November 4, 1952, Kamchutka’s magnitude 9.0 earthquake caused damage, but no deaths were reported despite stopping the 9.1 metre (30 feet) waves in Hawaii.
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