Strongest Recorded Earthquake In Russia Triggers Tsunami Warnings In US, Japan, Chile, Ecuador, Solomon Islands, and Russia
By Stefan J. Bos, Worthy News Chief International Correspondent
MOSCOW/TOKYO/WASHINGTON (Worthy News) – One of the strongest earthquakes ever measured struck off the eastern coast of Russia on Wednesday local time, triggering tsunami warnings on the entire U.S. West Coast, Hawaii, southern Alaska, and British Columbia, as well as parts of Japan, Chile, Ecuador, and the Solomon Islands.
The magnitude-8.7 earthquake hit Russia’s Far East early Wednesday, where damage and evacuations were reported in the Russian regions nearest the quake’s epicenter on the Kamchatka Peninsula.
The Pacific Tsunami Warning Center said waves of 1 to 3 meters (yards) above tide level were possible along some coastal areas of Hawaii, Chile, Japan, and the Solomon Islands. Waves of more than 3 meters (yards) were possible along some coastal regions of Russia and Ecuador.
Japan’s meteorological agency issued a tsunami alert for Japan’s Pacific coast, saying waves up to 3 meters (yards) could arrive along the northern Japanese coasts less than half an hour after the alert.
The Pacific Tsunami Warning Center said the quake generated a tsunami that could damage the coastlines of the Hawaiian Islands.
For Samalga Pass, it said that a tsunami with “significant inundation is possible or is already occurring.”
As the extent of the quake became clear, authorities in New Zealand, even further away, expressed concern.
MORE WARNINGS
The National Emergency Management Agency (NEMA) said it closely monitors the situation and advises citizens and visitors to remain alert for potential tsunami surges.
While NEMA had initially downplayed the possibility of a tsunami, citing the distance from the quake’s epicenter to New Zealand’s shores, the severity of the earthquake prompted the agency to reassess the threat, media reported.
The tsunami warnings, which spread across the Pacific, prompted the Pacific Tsunami Warning Center to update its risk estimates to various countries, including those along the western coast of the Americas, Oceania, and parts of Asia.
The developments also came as a challenge for the United States, with sirens and phone alerts blaring across Maui, the second-largest island in the Hawaiian archipelago, warning people that tsunami waves were in less than three hours.
Maui-based bagpipe player Roger Pleasanton said he was relieved to get many alerts. “At least we know it’s working. The emergency services are working,” he added while lining up to buy diesel for his vehicle. “As we know, it didn’t work during the fires.”
Pleasanton was the resident bagpipe player at Fleetwood’s – a Maui institution owned by Mick Fleetwood – which was destroyed in the 2003 Maui wildfires.
Before the fires, he played his pipes at sunset most days on the bar deck.
LUSH HILLS
While people dream of owning some waterfront property in Hawaii, Pleasanton said he’s especially relieved that he lives in the lush hills, on high ground.
“The traffic’s like New York City right now,” he told Britain’s BBC broadcaster. “I was going to go to the grocery store, but I think I may have to skip the groceries and get out of here.”
Residents in several parts of Japan were also under evacuation orders to seek high ground and stay away from the coasts.
Russia’s quake is the sixth most severe in recorded history, experts say, and likely one of the biggest in the region, experts said.
Helen Janiszewski, Assistant Professor, Geophysics and Tectonics Division at the University of Hawaii, said that the earthquake ranks among the ten most severe in recorded history.
According to the U.S. Geological Survey (USGS), at magnitude 8.8, it is tied at the sixth most severe quake in history, with the 2010 earthquake in Biobío, Chile, and the 1906 earthquake in Esmeraldas, Ecuador.
The USGS said of the Chile earthquake, “Occurring offshore near the city of Quirihue, this intense earthquake killed 523 people and destroyed more than 370,000 homes.”
ECUADOR QUAKES
Of the Ecuador earthquake, “Referred to as the Ecuador-Colombia earthquake, this quake produced a strong tsunami that killed 1,500 and reached as far north as San Francisco.”
Interestingly, the fifth most severe earthquake was in Kamchatka Krai, Russia, like today’s, the USGS noticed.
It was in 1952 and was “the world’s first recorded magnitude nine earthquake.”
The agency added that it “triggered a massive tsunami that struck Hawaii, causing over $1 million in damages.”
Residents were advised to follow the advice of their local authorities, in addition to following news updates.
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