A massive 8.8-magnitude earthquake rocked the waters off Russia’s Kamchatka Peninsula early Wednesday, triggering tsunami alerts and widespread evacuations in the region.
The tremor’s epicenter was located about 125 kilometers east of Petropavlovsk, at a shallow depth of just 19 kilometers — a factor that amplified its intensity.
Waves reaching up to four meters battered Kamchatka’s coastline, prompting local emergency services chief Sergei Lebedev to urge residents to move inland. A small town in Russia’s Kuril Islands was reportedly flooded.
The quake caused significant damage to buildings and left many injured. According to local officials, it is the strongest seismic event to hit the area in decades.
Several strong aftershocks followed, the most powerful measuring 7.0.
Japan’s Meteorological Agency warned of a possible one-meter tsunami reaching its shores. The U.S. Tsunami Warning System also issued alerts for hazardous wave activity along coastlines in Russia, Japan, Hawaii, and beyond.
Kamchatka lies within the Pacific Ocean’s “Ring of Fire,” a zone notorious for intense seismic and volcanic activity.