Tsunami warnings across the Pacific have been lifted, allowing millions of people to return home after a powerful earthquake struck off Russia’s Kamchatka Peninsula. The resulting tsunami waves were smaller than initially feared, preventing widespread devastation.
The 8.8 magnitude earthquake prompted large-scale evacuations in multiple countries. In Japan, almost two million people were told to seek higher ground. One person died after their car fell from a cliff during the evacuation, and 11 others were hospitalised with heatstroke symptoms. The largest wave recorded in Japan was about 1.3 metres high.
In Chile, authorities described the evacuation of 1.4 million people as “perhaps the most massive ever.” Their warning was later reduced to a “state of precaution” after waves of only 60 centimetres were observed. A surge of just over one metre was also reported in the Galapagos Islands, but it caused no damage.
The most significant damage occurred in Russia, near the epicentre of the quake. A tsunami there submerged a fishing plant and swept buildings and debris into the sea. The powerful earthquake, one of the strongest recorded since 1900, was also followed by a volcano eruption in the region.
