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A powerful 8.8-magnitude earthquake struck Russia's Far East early Wednesday, triggering a tsunami in the northern Pacific and prompting alerts from Alaska and Hawaii to coastal regions as far south as New Zealand.
Tsunami alert sirens rang out Tuesday in Honolulu, prompting residents to head for higher ground.
According to the Japan Meteorological Agency, a 40-centimetre (1.3 feet) tsunami was recorded in Tokachi, located on the southern shore of Hokkaido, Japan’s northernmost main island.
In Russia’s Kamchatka Peninsula the area closest to the quake’s epicenter authorities reported structural damage and evacuations, though no major injuries were recorded.
The initial tsunami wave struck Severo-Kurilsk, the primary town in Russia’s Kuril Islands, said local governor Valery Limarenko. He assured that residents were safe and remained on elevated ground until any threat of subsequent waves had passed.
A tsunami warning was also issued for Hawaii, with the US National Weather Service’s Pacific Tsunami Warning Center stating that a tsunami had been generated that “could cause damage along the coastlines of all the Hawaiian islands.”
Tsunamis are massive ocean waves triggered by sudden vertical movements of the seafloor, typically caused by shallow faults slipping during powerful earthquakes or by the movement of large underwater landslides.
As these waves travel into shallower waters near coastlines, they increase in height, according to the United States Geological Survey (USGS).