(Source: X)
Tsunami waves struck the coastlines of Japan and Russia on Wednesday following a powerful 8.8 magnitude earthquake off Russia’s Kamchatka Peninsula.The quake was located around 250 kilometres from Hokkaido. In addition to structural damage to ports, BNO News reported that four whales had washed ashore on the Japanese coastline in the aftermath of the waves.According to the US geological survey, the earthquake is the sixth-largest on record.Japan’s national broadcaster NHK warned that larger waves could follow. The Japan meteorological agency had earlier said tsunami waves of up to three metres could hit northern and eastern coastal regions, extending as far south as Wakayama, near Osaka.The massive undersea quake prompted widespread evacuations in parts of Russia and Japan. The first visuals of the tsunami went viral on social media, showing Russian coastal buildings submerged and huge volumes of water submerging the land.Authorities in Russia’s far eastern Sakhalin region declared a state of emergency on Wednesday in the northern Kuril Islands after tsunami waves damaged buildings and caused flooding.“The North Kuril District, where an earthquake and tsunami occurred today, has been placed under a state of emergency,” the Sakhalin government said in a statement.East Russia governor had urged people to ‘stay away from the coast’ after tsunami alert.The quake struck at a depth of about 19 kilometres and was centred around 125 kilometres east-southeast of the city of Petropavlovsk-Kamchatsky.The tsunami waves reached up to 4 metres high and caused damage in several areas, reports Reuters. “Today’s earthquake was the strongest in decades,” Kamchatka governor Vladimir Solodov said in a video message, according to Reuters.Russia’s emergency services issued evacuation orders for affected areas. In Severo-Kurilsk, a small town south of Kamchatka, people were asked to leave their homes due to the tsunami threat. Tsunami warnings were also issued for Japan, Hawaii, and other parts of the Pacific. Japan’s weather agency warned that waves up to 3 metres could hit coastal cities around 0100 GMT.US officials also placed Guam and other Micronesian islands under tsunami watch.US President Donald Trump took to his Truth Social account, urging people to “stay safe.”“Due to a massive earthquake that occurred in the Pacific Ocean, a Tsunami Warning is in effect for those living in Hawaii. A Tsunami Watch is in effect for Alaska and the Pacific Coast of the United States. Japan is also in the way. Please visit tsunami.gov/ for the latest information. STAY STRONG AND STAY SAFE!”The US national weather service issued a stronger tsunami warning on Tuesday night for a 100-mile stretch of Northern California’s coast, from Cape Mendocino to the Oregon border.
