Japan and Hawaii Evacuate After Powerful Earthquake Triggers Tsunami

A magnitude 8.8 earthquake struck off Russia's far eastern Kamchatka Peninsula this morning, damaging buildings and generating a tsunami of up to 4 meters that prompted warnings and evacuations stretching across the Pacific Ocean.

Several people were injured in the remote Russian region, while much of Japan's eastern seaboard was ordered to evacuate.

'Today's earthquake was serious and the strongest in decades of tremors,' Kamchatka Governor Vladimir Solodov said in a video posted on the Telegram messaging app.

A tsunami with a height of 3-4 meters was recorded in parts of Kamchatka, said Sergei Lebedev, regional minister for emergency situations, urging people to move away from the shoreline.

The US Geological Survey said the earthquake was shallow at a depth of 19.3 km and was centered 119 km east-southeast of Petropavlovsk-Kamchatsky, a city of 165,000. It revised the magnitude up from 8.0 earlier and reported a strong aftershock of magnitude 6.9 soon after.

Japan's weather agency upgraded its warning, saying it expected tsunami waves of up to 3 meters to reach large areas of its coast.

An infographic showing the Pacific Ocean where tsunami advisories of various levels were issued after a 8.8-magnitude quake off the coast of Russia's Kamchatka peninsula.

Tsunami alarms sounded in coastal towns across Japan's Pacific coast with authorities urging people to seek higher ground.

Workers evacuated the stricken Fukushima nuclear plant, where a meltdown following the 2011 tsunami caused a radioactive disaster, operator TEPCO said.

Warnings were issued across the Pacific, with the US Tsunami Warning System also issuing a warning of 'hazardous tsunami waves' within the next three hours.

'Due to a massive earthquake that occurred in the Pacific Ocean, a tsunami warning is in effect for those living in Hawaii,' US President Donald Trump said in a social media post.

In Hawaii, coastal residents were told to get to high ground or the fourth floor or above of buildings, and the U.S. Coast Guard ordered ships out of harbors as the tsunami approached.

A resident in Petropavlovsk-Kamchatsky said the shaking started slowly but built up and rumbled for several minutes.

Several people sought medical assistance following the quake, Oleg Melnikov, regional health minister, told Russia's TASS state news agency.

Russia's Ministry for Emergency Services said on Telegram that the port in the Sakhalin town of Severo-Kurilsk and a fish processing plant there were partially flooded by a tsunami. The population was evacuated.

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 Russian Academy of Sciences said it was the strongest quake to hit the region since 1952.

'However, due to certain characteristics of the epicenter, the shaking intensity was not as high ... as one might expect from such a magnitude,' said Danila Chebrov, director of the Kamchatka Branch of the Geophysical Service, on Telegram.

'Aftershocks are currently ongoing ... Their intensity will remain fairly high. However, stronger tremors are not expected in the near future. The situation is under control.'

According to the source: RTE.ie.