Emergency warnings stretched across the Pacific on Wednesday after a massive earthquake with a magnitude of 8.8 struck off Russia’s Kamchatka Peninsula, prompting widespread tsunami alerts from Japan to the West Coast of the United States and as far as Indonesia and New Zealand.
The quake, which hit at a depth of just 21 kilometers beneath the seabed, set off a chain of rapid-response warnings throughout the Pacific basin.
In Japan, one of the immediate countries in the predicted tsunami path, authorities reported early wave surges—with a 30-centimeter swell observed in Hokkaido, the country’s northernmost island, and a 10-centimeter wave recorded in Kanagawa prefecture.
The Japan Meteorological Agency noted that further waves, potentially reaching heights of up to one meter, could strike southern regions within hours.
Tsunami alerts were quickly sounded across coastal zones in North America, stretching from Canada’s British Columbia down through the US states of California and Hawaii. Asian and Oceanic nations—including Indonesia and New Zealand—also enacted advisories as meteorological agencies monitored for any escalation that could impact coastal communities.
