On Wednesday, a strong magnitude 8.8 earthquake off the Far Eastern Kamchatka Peninsula in Russia caused tsunami waves up to 5 meters (16 feet) in height in the immediate area and prompted evacuation orders as far away as Hawaii and throughout the Pacific.
While majority of Japan’s eastern seaboard, which was devastated by a 9.0 magnitude earthquake and tsunami in 2011, was urged to evacuate, the shallow earthquake in the isolated Russian region damaged structures and injured a number of people.
In Petropavlovsk-Kamchatsky, a group of medical professionals were performing surgery while the tremors rocked their tools and the floor below them, according to video footage made public by the region’s health ministry.
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Parts of Kamchatka were hit by tsunami waves, which swept boats off their moorings and partially flooded the port and a fish processing facility in the town of Severo-Kurilsk, according to regional officials and Russia’s emergency ministry.
The town’s entire shoreline was underwater, according to verified drone footage, and water was visible gushing back into the sea around taller buildings and some storage facilities.
Ezoic
“Today’s earthquake was serious and the strongest in decades of tremors,” Governor Vladimir Solodov of Kamchatka stated in a video that was shared on the Telegram application. According to Russian geologists, it was the strongest to strike the area since 1952.
Before the Pacific Tsunami Warning Centre lowered its warning level for the state at approximately 0850 GMT, stating that no significant tsunami was anticipated, waves as high as 1.7 meters (5.5 feet) struck the Hawaiian islands.
According to a Petropavlovsk-Kamchatsky resident, the shaking continued for a few minutes.
“I decided to leave the building,” said Yaroslav, 25. “It felt like the walls could collapse any moment. The shaking lasted continuously for at least 3 minutes.”
Russia’s Far East and Kamchatka are located on the Pacific Ring of Fire, a geologically active area that frequently experiences volcanic eruptions and earthquakes.
“However, due to certain characteristics of the epicentre, 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.”
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