Parts of French Polynesia were told to brace for waves as high as four metres, after a powerful magnitude 8.8 earthquake off Russia’s Far Eastern coast triggered tsunami warnings as far away as Hawaii, Japan and Chile.
The shallow tremor off the Kamchatka Peninsula 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.
However, the tsunami advisory ended for all of the Hawaiian Islands by last night, according to the Pacific Tsunami Warning Centre.
Japan had also downgraded their tsunami warnings, but authorities in French Polynesia warned residents of several of the remote Marquesas Islands to move to higher ground, and follow official instructions.
The waves were expected to hit some islands early this morning.
“Our armed forces in French Polynesia are on alert as a precautionary measure, to be ready to assist our fellow citizens and state services in potential search and rescue operations or medical evacuations,” French Defence Minister Sebastien Lecornu said on the social media platform X.
While the Marquesas are high-rising volcanic islands, much of French Polynesia consists of low-lying atolls.
Russian scientists said the quake in Kamchatka was the most powerful to hit the region since 1952.
“It felt like the walls could collapse any moment. The shaking lasted continuously for at least three minutes,” said Yaroslav, 25, in the city of Petropavlovsk-Kamchatsky.
In Severo-Kurilsk in the northern Kuril Islands, south of Kamchatka, tsunami waves exceeded 3m, with the largest up to 5m, Russia’s RIA news agency reported.
Alexander Ovsyannikov, the town’s mayor, urged residents to assess damage to their homes and not to use gas stove heating until inspections had been carried out.
Tsunami waves partially flooded the port and a fish processing plant in the town, sweeping vessels from their moorings, regional officials and Russia’s emergency ministry said.
Hawaii recorded waves of up to 1.7m while in Japan the largest recorded came to 1.3m, 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 as California, with smaller ones reaching Canada’s province of British Columbia.
The US Geological Survey said the earthquake was shallow at a depth of 19.3km and centred 119km east-southeast of Petropavlovsk-Kamchatsky, a city of 165,000.
Tsunami alarms had sounded in coastal towns across Japan’s Pacific coast and evacuation orders were issued for tens of thousands of people.
Broadcaster Asahi TV reported a 58-year-old woman died when her car fell off a cliff while she was evacuating in central Japan’s Mie prefecture.
Chief Cabinet Secretary Yoshimasa Hayashi said no injuries or damage had been reported, and there were no irregularities at any nuclear plants.
But hundreds of thousands of commuters in Tokyo and surrounding areas faced being stranded as they headed home, with operations on railway lines along the Pacific coast remaining halted.
Russia’s Ministry for Emergency Services said on Telegram that a kindergarten was damaged, but most buildings withstood the quake.
Several people in Kamchatka sought medical assistance following the quake, Oleg Melnikov, regional health minister, told Russia’s Tass state news agency.
Video footage from the region’s health ministry showed a team of medics in the city of 165,000 residents performing surgery as the tremors shook their operating theatre.
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