Unews World
A tsunami alert was issued in Hawaii where people were urged Tuesday to leave low-lying and coastal areas after a powerful 8.8-magnitude earthquake struck off Russia’s Kamchatka Peninsula, officials said.
Oahu Emergency Management warned that “destructive tsunami waves” were expected, and the first ones were forecast to arrive in Hawaii at 7:17 p.m. Tuesday local time (1:17 a.m. Wednesday ET), the U.S. Tsunami Center said.
Alert sirens sounded in Hawaii after the warning, which was set off by the earthquake that Japan’s meteorological agency said occurred at 8:25 a.m. Wednesday local time (1:25 p.m. Tuesday in Hawaii). It measured 8.7 magnitude and triggered tsunami fears in Japan, Chile, the Solomon Islands and parts of the U.S. West Coast and Alaska.
“Urgent action should be taken to protect lives and property,” the warning of Hawaii stated.
The Tsunami Warning Center said waves of 1 to 3 yards above tide level were possible along some coastal areas of Hawaii, Chile, Japan and the Solomon Islands.
Waves of more than 3 yards were possible along some coastal areas of Russia and Ecuador.
The Japan Meteorological Agency said a first tsunami wave of about 1 foot reached Nemuro on the eastern coast of Hokkaido.
Japan’s Prime Minister Shigeru Ishiba warned people in areas under alert to be wary of secondary waves.
“Even if a tsunami reaches an area, the second or third waves could be larger, so please pay close attention to tsunami-related information and remain in a safe location until the alert is lifted,” he told reporters.
In Russia, the first tsunami wave hit the coastal area of Severo-Kurilsk, the main settlement on Russia’s Kuril Islands in the Pacific, according to the local governor Valery Limarenko. He said residents were safe and staying on high ground until the threat of a repeat wave was gone.
Russia’s Tass news agency reported from the biggest city nearby the epicenter, Petropavlovsk-Kamchatsky, that many people ran out into the street without shoes or outerwear. Cabinets toppled inside homes, mirrors were broken, cars swayed in the street, and balconies on buildings shook noticeably.
Tass also reported power outages and mobile phone service failures in the capital of the Kamchatka region.
The National Tsunami Warning Center, based in Alaska, issued a tsunami warning for parts of the Alaska Aleutian Islands and a watch for parts of the West Coast, including California, Oregon, and Washington, as well as Hawaii.
The advisory also includes a vast swath of Alaska’s coastline, including parts of the panhandle.
The Japanese government said it set up a task force for information-gathering and response in case of any emergency. University of Tokyo seismologist Shinichi Sakai told NHK that a distant earthquake could cause a tsunami that affects Japan if its epicenter is shallow.
Japan, part of the area known as the Pacific ring of fire, is one of the world’s most quake-prone country.
Five powerful quakes — the largest with a magnitude of 7.4 — struck in the sea near Kamchatka this month. The largest quake, at a depth of 20 kilometers, was about 90 miles east of Petropavlovsk-Kamchatsky, which has a population of 180,000.
On Nov. 4, 1952, a magnitude-9.0 quake in Kamchatka caused damage but no reported deaths even though it set off 30-foot waves in Hawaii.
Source link
