Russia and Japan withdraw tsunami warnings after powerful earthquake

2025-07-30 16:54:00, Kosova & Bota CNA

Russia and other regions have lifted tsunami warnings after the Kamchatka Peninsula was hit by an 8.8-magnitude earthquake earlier on Wednesday - one of the most powerful ever.

The earthquake, which struck a peninsula in Russia's Far East, triggered a tsunami of up to four meters, damaged buildings and prompted warnings and evacuations across the Pacific Ocean.

Hawaii and parts of Japan have lifted tsunami warnings. Evacuation orders were also lifted in the US state of Hawaii, but tsunami advisories remain in effect due to the risk of aftershocks.

In Kamchatka, several people were injured, while a large part of Japan's east coast - which was hit hard by the catastrophic 2011 earthquake and tsunami - was ordered to evacuate.

"Today's earthquake was very serious and the most powerful in the last ten years," the governor of Kamchatka said in a Telegram post earlier on Wednesday.

According to the regional minister for emergencies, Sergei Lebedev, a tsunami with a height of 3 to 4 meters was recorded after the earthquake.

"Everyone should leave the coast immediately," he stressed in a video shared on social media.

According to the Local Branch of the Geophysical Institute of the Russian Academy of Sciences, this was the most powerful earthquake in the area since 1952. They called the quake a “unique event” in a statement published on Telegram.

The epicenter was near the area that was hit by another earthquake on July 20.

Scientists declared the situation "under control", but warned of aftershocks that could last up to a month and advised citizens to avoid coastal areas for safety reasons.

According to the American Institute of Seismology, the earthquake occurred at a depth of 19.3 kilometers, about 125 kilometers from Petropavlovsk, a city with about 165,000 inhabitants on the coast of Avacha Bay.

Meanwhile, the Klyuchevskoy volcano on the Kamchatka Peninsula has begun to erupt after the powerful earthquake, the Russian state news agency RIA reported.

Japan lowers tsunami alert level
Japan has lowered the tsunami alert level, which was previously issued on Wednesday for the northern part of the country.

However, authorities have left some measures in place for the coastal area after the powerful earthquake that struck the Russian Far East.

Earlier in the day, the Japan Meteorological Agency had warned of tsunami waves of up to 3 meters along most of the coast. Public broadcaster NHK reported that more than 1.9 million people had been ordered to evacuate to safe places as the waves began to hit the shore.

Although the waves were smaller than initially predicted, there were traffic disruptions across the country.

Japan's Fire and Disaster Management Agency confirmed that about 2 million residents in 21 prefectures were under evacuation orders.

Workers at the damaged Fukushima nuclear power plant were also evacuated on Wednesday, AFP reported./ REL